an issue of trust always from the beginning, a story

[braineo]

when Nissan announced the first nationwide showing of their electric car, I was one who towed my spouse to the local mall to see it in person. What a dissapointment when I saw this ugly blue guppy with a form factor more akin for teenagers than old f@rts. But nevertheless when they announced the $99 reservation system I encountered web problems because I had signed up three times with different user names and the same email account (some of us don't remember which username we initially set up). Nevertheless, I put down my deposit when GA opened up, expecting that at least Nissan would freeze the initial price. When finally, GA got close to receiving their first allotment of 2011 Leafs, I learned about the hurdle of having your home inspected for the $2,000 home charging unit. Got a little savvy and was able to bypass this home inspection charge due to my white lie that my house already was setup with a Volt charging unit in my garage. Then came the first price shock when the 2011 SL received a $3,000 price increase for 2012 with minimal content increase (standard QC, seat and steering wheel heaters and a block heater for Eskimos). Then I realized the $99 was always a marketing trick from Nissan to identify us early adopters. I found a Leaf SL demo 5 miles from my house and tried to get it before year end to get a quick turnaround for my tax credits, but the dealership would not budge with pricing, thus I cancelled my reservation and got my $99 back. my electric dream was busted by Nissan by they never acknowledging the support of early adopters. A price freeze or a 500-1,000 price break would had worked wonders with me. Now I was electrically orphaned and it took over 9 months for me to think electric again. I test drove a Volt during the Summer and started to try to make the inflated Volt price a possibility and almost took the hook when the cheap leases came out during Labor day weekend last year. I missed the opportunity of a $199 Volt lease deal because they were not available in our area. A few months later I started the research to claim the tax credits before year end. I did find a 2011 SL with QC orphan demo without the price increase and at a price almost $10k less than list and that was all it took for me to claim my BluSky on December 1st 2012 and our almost free Blink unit from ecotality since Atlanta was opened as a test market. I'm a happy camper when I signed my no money down purchase and my $434 a month loan which provides me with transportation that saves me $300 a month in gas.

Now I'm having the conundrum that my wife wants one for her and the supply of Leaf's is not there, but the demand is, thus no great lease opportunities in GA at this point. Anyway, without disgressing too much, Nissan have lost our trust since the $99 deposit fiasco and their inability to be forthcoming with the battery issues and their replacement price is keeping them in the trust doghouse for the foreseable future.

Ellon Musk has been driving the EV interest with his statements about Tesla battery warranty, their breakthroughs with battery range, their superchargers, their direct to consumer price transparency, their offer of modified purchase plans (a buy that looks and smells like a lease), their commitment to best than ICE, that I'm beginning to ponder how in hell can I come with the money to afford a Model S.

Nissan, Tesla now owns a piece of my mind that you had the opportunity of owning, but because you generated bad karma smoke from day one, we early adopters have come to the conclusion that there is a fire inside Nissan that no matter what Mr. Ghosh say, the organization doesn't know what to do with us Nissan Leaf owners and leeses. The $1,000 discount certificate is not enough to dispel the BS smoke and mirrors you keep us in. Having dealers in the equation putting more ambers in the fire and trying to fleeze us owners with BS costs and not installing nor maintaining charging infrastructure is all coming back to Nissan mishandling of this breakthrough technology.

Just a matter of trust. Or in my case, broken trust.

It is still early in the game, probably 2nd or 3rd inning, Nissan, Mr. Ghosh, what is it going to be?

 

[apvbguy]

my only issue with your rant is that back in april when I was searching for a LEAF there were plenty of LEAFs to be found in northern GA. also you are talking apples and oranges pricewise when comparing a LEAF to a telsa.
YMMV

 

[TomT]

This applies to many aspects of the Leaf beyond the particulars in your own story... Many of us have asked - and are asking - the same question but for different reasons!

Mr. Ghosh, what is it going to be?

 

[braineo]

my only issue with your rant is that back in april when I was searching for a LEAF there were plenty of LEAFs to be found in northern GA. also you are talking apples and oranges pricewise when comparing a LEAF to a telsa.
YMMV

I never saw anyone offering $10,000 off on any LEAF SL on top of the Federal & State tax credits (-$12,500) - thus I was able to get my Leaf for less than $16 including sales taxes.


Rant is only a warning notice to NISSAN to do what needs to be done to regain mindshare from TESLA. I know NISSAN corporate people lurk around this forum.

 

[TomT]

And well taken. It is almost a certainty that my next EV will not be a Nissan...

Rant is only a warning notice to NISSAN to do what needs to be done to regain mindshare from TESLA. I know NISSAN corporate people lurk around this forum.

 

[Nubo]

I similarly cancelled my reservation when I ran into various technical glitches which the support was unable or unwilling to resolve. The whole scenario was mishandled, no question. However I do give Nissan big points for the general idea, which took dealer gouging out of the equation during rollout. A big plus in my eyes, even if it didn't work perfectly. And I recognize the novelty of what they were trying to do. On the other side, Nissan either couldn't, or didn't care to exert better control over the early adopter experience. Red carpet treatment it was not. My advice to Nissan is if you're going to do something like this, care enough to do it right.

In any case, I was willing to overlook that, because it was much more important to me that they actually build the cars and get them out there. So maybe 6 months after I cancelled my reservation I was able to simply pick one up at a local dealer like a normal car.

Agreed, it's early in the game and Nissan seems to be applying their same methods to the QC rollout and getting mired again. Definitely an area where a new company like Tesla, without all the internal bureaucracy and dealership entanglements, can be more nimble and effective. My advice to Mr. Ghosn is to reshape his company to be more agile and user-aware. Not only will the industry move to electric vehicles but the old dealer/customer/manufacture relationships can't continue long in their current dysfunctional state.