Nissan is bringing the next-gen Leaf on tour in the US next month

Nissan is set to unveil the next generation all-electric Leaf in Tokyo next month, but now we learn they plan to bring it to the US soon after.

The Japanese automaker is taking the next-gen Leaf on tour of eight National Drive Electric Week events in the US.

We got our first good look at the next generation Nissan Leaf without camouflage through some spy shots earlier this month, but the official unveiling is on September 5th (Eastern time – Sept. 6th in Japan).

Nissan already announced that they plan to bring the vehicles to dealerships in the US soon after, but they also announced today appearances at National Drive Electric Week events:

Sept. 9

• Seattle, Washington | Denny Park | 9 a.m.-2 p.m.
• San Diego, California | Qualcomm Stadium | 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
• Alpharetta, Georgia | Avalon | 11 a.m.-4 p.m.

Sept. 14

• Bridgewater, New Jersey | Bridgewater Municipal Building Car Park | 6 p.m.-9 p.m.

Sept. 16

• Portland, Oregon | Washington Square | 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
• Los Angeles, California | Los Angeles State Historic Park | 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
• Cupertino, California | DeAnza College | 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
• Cambridge, Massachusetts | Danehy Park | 11 a.m.-4 p.m.

Those should be the first opportunities to see the next-gen Leaf in person in the US.

Brian Maragno, director of EV Marketing and Sales Strategy at Nissan, said about the announcement:

“The timing couldn’t be better. Bringing LEAF to some of the most enthusiastic EV advocates just days after its global debut is the perfect way to kick things off for this technology-packed car. We can’t wait to show off the all-new LEAF to electric vehicle owners and enthusiasts during National Drive Electric Week.”

Furthermore, current Leaf owners will have the opportunity to first test-drives the next-gen Leafs at special events in October.

Over the past few months, Nissan has been gradually teasing images and features of the vehicle, most recently the ‘e-Pedal’ feature . Here are a few more teasers and features:

• Nissan starts teasing the next generation Leaf – releases first picture
• Nissan previews ‘ProPilot’ in the next-gen Leaf – releases first picture of the interior
• Nissan’s next-gen Leaf gets a release date, new teaser
• Nissan confirms next-gen all-electric Leaf will feature autonomous parking

Surprisingly, Nissan openly talking about upcoming features on its next generation Leaf should affect the current sales, but the company had record deliveries for the year in the US in June and they remain steady – mainly due to heavily discounting its current Leaf inventories – some for less than $13,000. If you can live with the shorter range, pre-refresh design, and without those latest features that they have been teasing, it can prove a cheap way to get into EV ownership.  You can check with your local Nissan dealer for Leafs in their inventories.