Nissan gets 9,000 orders for the new Leaf in less than 2 months

Nissan unveiled the next-generation Leaf last month and the automaker has gradually started rolling out the new all-electric vehicle to a few markets.

The vehicle is apparently off to a relatively good start as Nissan confirms that it got 9,000 orders in for the new Leaf in less than 2 months.

The 2018 Leaf has been available in Japan since last month and it launched in Norway, Germany, Austria, France, and Holland earlier this month.

At the Tokyo Motor Show this week, Nissan Europe EV Director Gareth Dunsmore confirmed to Automotive News Europe that the Japanese automaker “sold 3,500 Leafs” in Europe since the launch. The number increases to 9,000 when including the Japanese market.

It’s not clear how many of them have been delivered yet.

Dunsmore says that most of the European orders have been coming from Norway:

“They have been our first customers and our most loyal customers and we wanted to give something back to the people who trusted us from Day One back in 2010 and 2011,” Dunsmore said, adding that more than 2,000 existing and new customers in Norway already have purchased the Leaf.”

The new electric vehicle has yet to launch in the US. It is expected to arrive at American dealerships in “early 2018”.

Electrek’s Take

It will be interesting to follow sales of Nissan’s next-gen Leaf over the next few months for a few reasons.

The most interesting one, in my opinion, is to see how customers respond to the fact that Nissan already confirmed that another version with a longer range will soon be offered.

The new Leaf comes with a design refresh, a few new convenience features, and a new 40 kWh battery pack which enables about 150 miles of range.

That’s a nice upgrade from the previous version, especially at roughly the same price of ~$30,000 before incentives, but we were expecting a 60 kWh battery pack to enable over 200 miles of range. That version has been delayed a few months and it will launch only next year, says Nissan.

Of course, it is expected to be more expensive than the 40 kWh version, which will make it interesting.

There’s an unwritten rule that a “long-range electric vehicle” has over 200 miles of range, but that version of the Leaf is expected to start at about the same as Tesla’s Model 3 or Chevy Bolt EV: ~$35,000 before incentives.

I have the feeling that a lot of buyers might skip the range upgrade and stick to the cheaper version, which can end up costing less than $25,000 after incentives in the US. It could end up being a good example that EVs are not all about the range.

What do you think? Let us know in the comment section below.