Nissan’s hack-and-slash pricing policy for the Leaf electric vehicle is working well. In fact, it might be working too well.
Erik Gottfried, the brand’s director of electric vehicles, says Nissan will be short of inventory for its EV until late fall. Nissan is currently selling over 2,000 of its electric cars every month, which is more than four times its sales figure from last year.
The relative sales boom began when Nissan announced during the Detroit Auto Show in January that the Leaf would get a mild bump in range and a $6,000 price reduction. Customers started responding, and they haven’t stopped.
SEE ALSO: 2013 Nissan Leaf Gets Massive Price Cut
In fact, the response was so positive that Chevrolet is offering discounts on the Volt plug-in hybrid. Ford announced a $4,000 price drop for the Focus EV last week. Honda is reducing the price of its Fit EV.
SEE ALSO: Ford Focus EV Price Cut by $4,000
That doesn’t mean adoption of the Leaf and its competition have brought the cars mainstream. Far from it.
“Not every dealer has pursued selling the Leaf yet,” Gottfried told Automotive News. “But what we’ve seen lately is that one dealer in a city will start marketing the car and have great success with it. Then the other dealers in the market will realize there’s a real opportunity and start marketing it, too.”
As sales continue to grow, Nissan is planning to expand charging infrastructure by adding over 100 charging stations at dealer locations in 21 U.S. markets.
[Source: Automotive News]
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