First Leaf delivery in Seattle

[evnow]

Anyone get the VIN off Jon's car?

It was in the 140s. I'll let him post it if he doesn't mind ...

 

[Coffee_Slurry]

Anyone get the VIN off Jon's car?

It was in the 140s. I'll let him post it if he doesn't mind ...

Interesting.. That would be a record low.

 

[LEAFfan]

Had a blast at the party.. I certainly was not expecting that quantity of (good) food or the beverages, but they certainly helped make the evening a success!
Sorry for not trying to track everyone down, but we kept running into folks we already knew so the couple of hours we spent there went by rather quickly..

In terms of "new" insights, the only thing I was a bit surprised to discover was that the driver's seat of the Leaf only seems to adjust up/down from the back of the seat; the seat seems to pivot at the front edge which seems to limit how much adjustment you actually can get. This was enough, though, to actually let me see over the hood so a big improvement!

You can also move your seatback forward which makes you sit up straighter. There is a lever on the side close to the up/down wheel.

 

[LEAFfan]

It was in the 140s. I'll let him post it if he doesn't mind ...

Interesting.. That would be a record low.[/quote]

A record low? The cars are produced in random order as far as VINs are concerned. They are out of order coming off the assembly line, not in sequence.

 

[Coffee_Slurry]

How would you word it? 14X would be the lowest-numbered VIN delivered or promised to any customer anywhere.

 

[garygid]

I believe the VINs are supposed to be sequential, in manufacturing order.

Do you know otherwise?

 

[turbo2ltr]

Yeah, I know someone (Mark?) said something to the effect that cars are not produced in order, but that statement is so asinine to me. It's called a serial number for a reason...they are produced serially. While I think Mark probably has more right answers than than anyone else, it's not the first time he's said something that clearly isn't true. To me it was a way to cover up the fact that these cars were clearly not produced in reservation order...which is what they have been saying would happen and would probably be a logistical nightmare. Though that is what the public expected of them.

I take everything everyone says with a bucket of salt. It's clear that no one person knows everything. In some cases the people that are supposed to know don't even know. It will only become true in my eyes once it's proven. Unless someone that is actually involved with the assembly line comes here and says (in Japanese) that these cars roll off the line with non sequential VINs, I would not believe it.

Some people on this board are so adamant about being right just because they heard it from some nissan rep. Isn't it clear that correct information is hard to find? Sure share what you've heard, but don't shove possible mis-information down people's throats..

 

[turbo2ltr]

So I did some research and apparently, I stand corrected. While I found no info on Nissan's method, other manufacturers (Ford) assign a VIN when the production order is placed which has no bearing on when the car comes off the line. GM on the other hand assigns sequential numbers off the line. So I suppose it is *possible* that LEAFs do not come off the line in order...

 

[garygid]

When a group of orders is "processed" into a manufacturing run (maybe one day's production), it is unlikely that the cars are manufactured in "order sequence". Rather, they would be sequenced to optimize the assembly process. Maybe all SL+QC, then SL, then SV, or perhaps all red, all white, etc.

Since they all go out onto the parking lot to wait for the same boat, the actual manufacturing order, within the same shipment-batch, does not affect delivery order.

Things are done in "batches".
Of course, getting into an earlier "batch" DOES drastically affect delivery.

 

[LEAFfan]

I believe the VINs are supposed to be sequential, in manufacturing order.

Do you know otherwise?

Yes, not just Mark, but a Nissan exec at the celebration told me none of Nissan's cars are produced with sequential VINs. I had always thought that they were sequential too, but they aren't, at least with Nissan.

 

[evnow]

I'm sure in the old days - they were sequential. Now with so much automation - they can do the way they want. Afterall they produce jukes & leafs mixed together.

 

[garygid]

The VIN serials for each model (Juke, LEAF) should be independant.
However, the LEAFs are unlikely to have "random" serial numbers.

So, I suspect that the numbers get larger as time marches on, and that no (or very few) numbers are skipped.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

what if the cars were built in small batches based on accessories or color. build a dozen red SL's then move on, each with a sequential serial #. then a dozen Blues, etc. by the time we get them, they may seem all shuffled up but they are not.

now in a new build, its normal to pull random samples off the line for QA testing. that means some VINS will be missing.

 

[jlambeth]

what if the cars were built in small batches based on accessories or color. build a dozen red SL's ...

I like this approach. They should build nothing but Cayenne Red SLs ... until I get mine.

 

[evnow]

Jon said they were constantly being followed by Nissan team and finally managed to dodge them only in the afternoon.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0qEUOMj6ZU[/youtube]

 

[TRONZ]

Nice video! Thanks for sharing!