Nissan Leaf Cheaper in the U.S. Than Europe, Japan

When the Nissan Leaf debuts in America this year, its MSRP will be comparatively less than the same model selling in Japan in Europe. Automotive News says that Nissan officials are explaining this by stating that differences in local taxes and additional incentives will make up the difference in cost within the U.S. market.

Trisha Jung, chief marketing manager for Nissan’s U.S. electric vehicle sales, said that analysts who are suggesting that the Nissan Leaf is priced to low “don’t have all the information” such as the long-term impact of incentives received to build the electric car at its plant in Symrna, Tennessee.

“We are the first affordable, mass-market electric vehicle,” Jung said. “We’re pricing appropriately to ensure that.”

However, analysts like John Kluza, a battery analyst at Lux Research, claim that the estimated MSRP in the U.S. market of $32,780 is too low when considering the costs of the battery pack, electronic components and production.

“It seems the goal was to price Leaf to get sales volume even if there’s some initial loss,” Kluza said. “In the first year or so, perhaps they’ll take a hit of $2,000 on each car, maybe more. Over time, as battery production scales up, that price will start to look more appropriate.”

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First Preproduction Chevy Volts Roll Off Line

The first three preproduction models of the Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric car rolled off the production line at GM’s Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Plant last week to cheers from a spontaneous crowd of onlookers, according to the Detroit Free-Press. GM officials expect to produce 500 preproduction models before official production of the car begins in November.

Already, the preproduction of the Chevy Volt has spurred interest from outsiders and improved morale within the plant. GM officials have said that they expect a significant interest from tour groups, schools and industry executives to tour the plant when production begins in earnest.

“I’m expecting that we will have all different kinds of visits,” said plant manager Teri Quigley. “I think it will be five times as many people as normal at the onset,” she said.

According to the article, beginning production on the Chevy Volt has also sparked interest in workers at the plant. Quigley was able to drive one off of the lot and called it a “heart-pumping moment.”

“It’s really, really great that we’ve got this Volt in our system. It’s real. We can touch them and feel them and do our job on them. But at the end of the day, the customer who is buying the DTS in front of that Volt or the Lucerne behind that Volt, doesn’t care that there was a Volt between the two,” Quigley said. “We can be excited, but we have to be focused, we can’t let the Volt distract us from what we’re doing on these other cars.”

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