The Nissan Leaf has been given a $7000 price cut, now retailing at $39,990 driveaway until October 30. There is also a 1.9% finance offer available, resulting in repayments of $85 per week.
It comes five months after Nissan reduced the price of the all-electric plug-in hatchback to $46,990 driveaway, although there is no sign of the facelifted Leaf shown at the 2013 Geneva motor show in March.
The Nissan Leaf went on sale here in May 2012, but secured just 77 sales in the eight months of the year. In the first three months of 2013, however, a total of 36 have been sold – an increase of about two per month.
Nissan admits it hopes the price cut will make the Leaf more popular with both private and fleet buyers, but while it refused to confirm the exact allocation of Leaf hatchbacks coming to Australia in 2013, it says supply will meet the – we assume modest – extra demand.
Nissan also would not comment whether the pricing structure would continue after October 30 or when Australia would receive the facelifted Nissan Leaf already available overseas – though we expect the car to arrive late this year.
Part of more than 100 updates to the new Nissan Leaf include a new 6.6kW charger that allows the use of 32-amp charging where available (typical domestic sockets deliver 10 amps) to improve driving range from 175km to 199km. More compact batteries liberates an extra 40 litres of boot space, now 370L, but outright power and performance remain unchanged.
