Nissan's EV 'acid test'

Nissan’s brave foray into electric vehicles faces its moment of truth in 2013 when significantly increased sales are being forecast on the basis of ramped up production.

Currently only built in Japan, the Leaf will begin production in the USA in September and the UK in February 2013, enabling an expansion of the range and the introduction of cheaper models.

Currently the Leaf retails for $35,200 in the USA, 30,990 pounds in the UK (although subsidies do potentially cut the cost in both countries) and $51,500 in Australia, where no subsidies are offered..

“The acid test of whether you can sell en-mass the electric car comes next year frankly,” declared Nissan Motor Company executive vice president and global product planning chief Andy Palmer

Speaking while attending the Australian launch of the Infiniti luxury brand, Mr Palmer said production solely out of Japan had provided a number of hurdles to wider acceptance of the Leaf.

“We can make 40,000 per year and they are all made in Japan. So you have a capacity constraint and - being very candid - you have a Yen constraint. So we can sell the car but we can’t put a lot of marketing dollars behind it, so we have an awareness issue as well.”

Since its launch in late 2010, Nissan has sold 45,000 Leafs. In 2013 it is aiming to sell 150,000.

Mr Palmer said manufacturing in the US and UK would achieve two things: “It lifts that capacity constraint and it gets you out of that Yen-based currency.”

Asked if that would lead to a Leaf price-drop he said: “It will not bring the price of the car down, but what it will bring is additional grades and a lower price.”

Leaf is part of a four-pronged Nissan EV assault. Also coming is an electric version of the NV cargo van, a city car and a medium-sized Infiniti luxury sedan dubbed LE. Nissan-Renault global boss Carlos Ghosn has bullishly pushed the company to global EV leadership, declaring a cumulative 1.5 million EV sales target by 2016. That goal continues to be questioned by some analysts and rivals, who insist Ghosn is putting the company’s future at risk with his EV ambition.

But Mr Palmer rejected that criticism.

“Maybe someone needs to go to business school,” he said. “When you invest in technology the expense has already gone in the past, so if we were betting the farm on it we would have gone bankrupt already. Does anyone think the price of gas is going down? Ultimately it’s going north whether we like it or not.

“The question isn’t whether electric cars are needed or not, the only question is the tempo at which they roll out.”

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