It seems that Nissan Leaf might finally give the Chevy Volt run for its money this year, thanks to some manufacturing changes and better fuel economy.
Of the pure electric and Plug-In hybrid electric vehicles being sold today, the Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf are just about neck-and-neck, the two best-selling electric vehicles on the market. In fact, only 500 units separates the two. Nissan Leaf probably could have outsold Chevy Volt, except for supply problems that prevented buyers from getting into their very own electric vehicles.
Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt and had it back and forth with pricing, even dragging Toyota Prius into the game. It’s not as if Toyota Prius had anything to worry about which sold upwards of three times the number of the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt, combined. Still, the Toyota Prius not an electric vehicle, which leaves Nissan Leaf, Chevy Volt, and Tesla Model S fighting over a total of about 60,000 vehicles per year.
The 2014 Nissan Leaf could change all that with increased range and better production capacity. The price is about the same, just $180 more than last year, due to the addition of the Nissan RearView Monitor system. Depending on where you live, you could pay as little as $16,480 for a brand new Nissan Leaf. What’s really impressive is that Nissan Leaf’s fuel economy has increased from 99 MPGe to 114 MPGe (miles per gallon equivalent) combined highway / city. Reflecting this improved fuel economy, Nissan Leaf’s range has increased from 73 miles to 84 miles.
Nissan Leaf sales are trending about 3000 cars per month, which is about 36,000 cars per year. Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn says, “The next step is moving up to 4000 per month, which is going to be approximately 50,000” vehicles per year.
Photo credit: NISSANEV / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND
