Was April now May

[LEAFer]

April now May as well. I don't mind the wait just a little worried that CVRP might run out of money before then.

If everybody gets bumped ... the timescale just slides with it, right ? So ... it's not as bad as it sounds, because (except for low-volume cars like Tesla) there's no competition in the fund.

 

[OrientExpress]

My delivery was slipped from April to May as well. But on a Positive note, this notice was on my Dashboard this morning too:

Your application for a complimentary eTec home charging unit and installation** has been accepted. eTec will contact you with more information prior to the arrival of your Nissan LEAF.

So a free home charger makes the wait worth it!

 

[BlueSL]

I do not think Ecotality or AV have anything to do with it. My EVSE is in, and Nissan knows it because it shows on my dashboard. I got bumped to May.

 

[smkettner]

April now May as well. I don't mind the wait just a little worried that CVRP might run out of money before then.

If everybody gets bumped ... the timescale just slides with it, right ? So ... it's not as bad as it sounds, because (except for low-volume cars like Tesla) there's no competition in the fund.

x2... I had previously said I thought the fund may run dry in April but I believe that also will get delayed to May.

 

[cinmar]

Here too. RAQ'd Oct. 25th. Not in EVProject.

 

[ttweed]

I do not think Ecotality or AV have anything to do with it. My EVSE is in, and Nissan knows it because it shows on my dashboard. I got bumped to May.

I'm not sure of your logic in this statement. Because you have your EVSE installed already and were bumped to May does not necessarily mean that the EV project has nothing to do with it. According to the master ordering spreadsheet, you reserved on 4/23/2010 and ordered on 12/4. I am in the EV project, and will receive my car at about the same time as you. What is the explanation for that? I remember when people were arguing here about whether your delivery date would coincide with your reservation timing or with your order date. It seems obvious now that there are other factors at work here that make such questions moot, or entirely irrelevant.

I reserved on 4/20, within hours of receiving the invitation email, and was told I would have a Sept. order date. I signed up for the EVP at the same time, and was told they "still had questions" about my application, and I would need a home assessment to be approved. This didn't take place until 9/27, and I wasn't allowed to RAQ until 10/1, the first of the "broken promises" from Nissan. Was this the EVP's fault for lagging on the assessment, or problems with Nissan's ordering system? I will probably never know. After ordering on 10/1, I was told I could expect my car to be delivered in 3-4 months. Later, I received an email informing me it would be 4-7 months (the second broken promise). On Feb 8, 2011, I received an email saying my car would be delivered in April, and "should your delivery date change by more than two weeks, we will send you an email to notify you of the change." Today, my dashboard says May, a change of one month, and no notification or explanation for this delay has been received (third broken promise). If the car is not here on May 1, it will be over 7 months since my order (4th broken promise) and over a year since I reserved it.

I just talked to CS on the phone, and they told me this was the first they'd heard of these delivery date changes. They had no knowledge or explanation for them, or why I was not notified of the slippage. They apologized and said they would investigate and let me know. I am not holding my breath that their explanation will provide any real clarity, and do not understand how you can be so positive that the EVP situation has nothing to do with it, though we will probably never know for sure. I find it all very curious and opaque, myself.

TT

 

[1051]

I agree with you 100% Tom.

 

[evnow]

Everyone getting bumped pls update your dates in the spreadsheet. We will then be able to make some sense of it.

 

[mathewbeall]

My dashboard just changed from "Month of April 2011" to "Month of May 2011"....

SIGH

 

[Devin]

Also bumped to May. I should never have wasted my time with EV Project. If I hadn't signed up (and then have to drop out due to not yet closing escrow on new house) I would have been able to order in September instead of a month later! Of course I had dropped EV Project early in October but Nissan's website failed to recognize or allow me to have the waiver enabled. Through the whole time I kept asking Nissan (both on phone and online chat) if this would push my delivery date back and they kept assuring me it would not and it was based on reservation order. Then again I'm not sure it would make a difference if I had been able to order on time by the sounds of things.

My parents will receive their Volt next week, it's about to be taken off the train and put on a truck for delivery to the dealer. They placed their order for the Volt after I placed my order for the Leaf.

This whole experience is very frustrating and is pushing my delivery date ever closer to the availability date of the Ford Focus Electric which will be available with leather, and has a more attractive front end. If delivery really does turn out to be May then I may just orphan the Leaf and wait for a Ford at that point. At the very least we'll know prices and more accurate availability dates for the Ford by then.

 

[SteveInSeattle]

Mine is still April. If I get bumped I will be seriously discouraged. "4-7 months" ends, for me, 4/7/11... exactly seven months from my 9/7 order. I have been posting words of patience when others have gotten uptight about the wait, but if they can't even meet their 4-7 month timeline I will fall to the other side of that divide. I saw a blue leaf on N.E. 45th st in Wallingford area of Seattle this morning on the way to work. I signed up on 4/20, the same day as that buyer (the same as thousands of others, apparently)-- Waiting months longer than the other early adopters is going to seriously reduce the fun factor of buying this car. Nissan should have taken fewer orders and taken them closer to delivery to avoid this whole mess. I would be less discouraged if the whole process had started in September instead of April-- as it is it will be over a year between my deposit and delivery.

 

[Coffee_Slurry]

That's really the nut, Devin..
By May, we still won't have other options to buy (in May), but we'll have more clarity on what's coming next year, I hope.
At that point, half the year is over, and MY2012 starts to be a reasonable wait.

And so the cycle begins anew.

 

[derkraut]

When I read here about what customers like Tom Tweed have gone thru, I have to shake my head.

Seems like Nissan is using about every method available to them, to discourage/anger/infuriate their best EV customers. What a public relations nightmare! I feel sorry for the Nissan dealers, who (apparently) really have no input in the Leaf delivery fiasco. This issue will probably adversely affect their reputations, as they need to sell the other Nissan vehicles to stay in business. Their profits from Leaf sales are/will be miniscule, compared to the rest of the brand.

Now, this is just my personal wag: If this keeps up, Nissan will lose many present/potential Leaf (and probably other models) customers---so many, in fact--that by 1/13 or so, there will be Leafs piling up in dealers' lots, marked $5,000+ off MSRP, with few takers. The 80-100 mile range battery will be obsolete within 2-3yrs, and replacement will cost more than the cars are worth on the market by then.

The BIG advantage for Leaf has always been that they are "first on the street" with an affordable, mass-produced, all electric family type vehicle. But, that advantage is rapidly turning to a huge embarassment, IMHO. Other manufacturers will quickly fill the void with equal to--or better choices at competitive prices. I think we may see lots of customers say "no thanks" when their cars finally show up. In my case, I may have died of old age by then anyhow. :lol:

 

[JimSouCal]

I think we may see lots of customers say "no thanks" when their cars finally show up. In my case, I may have died of old age by then...

Well, here goes for an unpopular opinion.

I want the car to come of the line as best it can, and am happy to wait a few more months (as a function of the years+ I have already waited). Building an innovative product, such as this car, with all of the best meeting of the user needs, for mass production and distribution, has so many things that can go wrong, and it is important to get it right.

If you need a car, go buy a beater, and sell it when your Leaf arrives. If you don't want the Leaf when it arrives, someone else will. My possible complaints will be on having a delivered car that has problems--not on a wait for something like a car.

Leading is fine, bleeding edge, not so fine. Nissan, you have my patience on the record.

 

[Glenn]

Well, here goes for an unpopular opinion.

I want the car to come of the line as best it can, and am happy to wait a few more months (as a function of the years+ I have already waited).

Jim, I Sooo want to agree with your position here. The key question I keep asking myself regarding all the delays and especially lack of forthright information from Nissan (and, yes, they're both starting to finally wear on me, too) is this. Is the delay really because they're continually improving the product during manufacture and thus stopping new LEAFs from even getting on the line, or is this just same-old-same-old and things are just plain bungled.

We're starting to see a number of problems here on the Forum (car won't turn off, broken windshield, Stop Vehicle message being reviewed by a team of NIssan experts, non-functioning pedestrian warning speaker prior to delivery...) that may well be one offs or not even vehicle problems at all. But they certainly contribute to the angst. I've been thinking of myself as living in the patient, give Nissan the benefit of the doubt camp, but the Sirens' call is getting louder and louder.

Glenn

 

[lisaleaf]

+1
Here we go again! From April to May, not happy! No email, just checkeddashboard. Great way to boost confidence. :evil:

 

[Devin]

I want the car to come of the line as best it can, and am happy to wait a few more months (as a function of the years+ I have already waited). Building an innovative product, such as this car, with all of the best meeting of the user needs, for mass production and distribution, has so many things that can go wrong, and it is important to get it right.

I somewhat agree with you that it is important to get it right out of the gate, but there comes a point where perfect becomes the enemy of good. Cars have problems, it's natural. If they try to squash every bug in the pursuit of perfect then they will never get the car out.

That said, I don't think this is an issue with bugs in the production process, it sounds more like an issue of prioritizing as well as biting off more than Nissan could chew. It's a fair assumption that Japanese customers were bumped ahead of US customers before their tax credit runs out and I am not going to argue the business merit to that concept. But when you are not sending more than a small trickle of product to one of the largest markets for it then that market will lose interest, especially when you've been stringing them along for a year. We're only seeing VIN numbers up to around 500 in the spreadsheet and those cars won't be delivered until March. That's 5 months into the production cycle with fewer than 500 vehicles in the hands of customers residing in one of the largest automobile markets in the world.

When you place a reservation on something and don't receive it for more than a year, a lot of the excitement and allure of the product goes away, especially when there is more competition by then. Nissan's advantage was having a car available first. The main reason I have ordered a LEAF is because it's a fully electric vehicle. I'm not crazy about the styling and it's lacking in some basic luxury features (like leather/heated seats), but it's electric and that's what I'm looking for in a car right now.

In May, there will likely be more choices on the horizon and if it's another 6 month wait for a Focus Electric then I will very seriously consider getting one instead of the LEAF. If it were a year difference, I'd stick with the LEAF - but Nissan is closing that gap and every day spent waiting for the LEAF is also a day closer to the availability of competing vehicles.

 

[sdbonez]

I'm still April. (but was also one of the ones who originally had March back in mid-January for a week before it slipped to April already)

 

[charlie1300]

When I read here about what customers like Tom Tweed have gone thru, I have to shake my head.

Seems like Nissan is using about every method available to them, to discourage/anger/infuriate their best EV customers. What a public relations nightmare! I feel sorry for the Nissan dealers, who (apparently) really have no input in the Leaf delivery fiasco. This issue will probably adversely affect their reputations, as they need to sell the other Nissan vehicles to stay in business. Their profits from Leaf sales are/will be miniscule, compared to the rest of the brand.

Now, this is just my personal wag: If this keeps up, Nissan will lose many present/potential Leaf (and probably other models) customers---so many, in fact--that by 1/13 or so, there will be Leafs piling up in dealers' lots, marked $5,000+ off MSRP, with few takers. The 80-100 mile range battery will be obsolete within 2-3yrs, and replacement will cost more than the cars are worth on the market by then.

The BIG advantage for Leaf has always been that they are "first on the street" with an affordable, mass-produced, all electric family type vehicle. But, that advantage is rapidly turning to a huge embarassment, IMHO. Other manufacturers will quickly fill the void with equal to--or better choices at competitive prices. I think we may see lots of customers say "no thanks" when their cars finally show up. In my case, I may have died of old age by then anyhow. :lol:

Time to step back and take a little perspective:

1. The general car buying population's awareness of these issues is at absolute zero. almost everyone I talk to have never even heard of the Leaf.
2. At this point in time "The competition" doesn't exist - I really wish that wasn't true, I would love to have more choices, but it is a fact. the only "competition" is hybrids, so if you want an EV that doesn't cost you an arm and a leg, the Leaf is it for this year or maybe next.
3. A year from now, when Nissan actually can produce enough Leafs to exceed the demand of first adopters/EV enthusiasts, No one will remember or care about theses issues. They will only care about how the Leafs that were delivered are working for their owners. Evidence on this forum is that Nissan is being very aggressive about fixing problems with the initial product. So their focus is where it belongs (from their perspective).

 

[LEAFfan]

I think we may see lots of customers say "no thanks" when their cars finally show up. In my case, I may have died of old age by then...

Well, here goes for an unpopular opinion.
I want the car to come of the line as best it can, and am happy to wait a few more months (as a function of the years+ I have already waited). Building an innovative product, such as this car, with all of the best meeting of the user needs, for mass production and distribution, has so many things that can go wrong, and it is important to get it right.
If you need a car, go buy a beater, and sell it when your Leaf arrives. If you don't want the Leaf when it arrives, someone else will. My possible complaints will be on having a delivered car that has problems--not on a wait for something like a car.
Leading is fine, bleeding edge, not so fine. Nissan, you have my patience on the record.

Actually, yours is a 'majority' opinion as most people will agree with you. It will be 8 months for me come May which has given me a problem selling my Honda GX, since most people want it now. As soon as gasoline went over $3, I've been swamped with offers. I can live with a little inconvenience since I've been waiting over 30 years for a reasonably-priced BEV. :mrgreen: