Nissan Leaf pricing promises sales success

Nissan has announced realistic prices for the all-electric Leaf. Launching in February 2011, the Leaf looks set to be a winner in the UK.

Nissan Leaf pricing promises success in Britain

When Nissan introduces its all-electric Leaf in February 2011, it will (just about) live up to Nissan’s pre-launch hype that the Leaf will be the world’s first affordable, five seater, all-electric car.

At £28,350, the Leaf will qualify for the government incentive payment of £5,000 (assuming that it escapes Osborne’s axe) bringing the lead-in price down to £23,350. At this price, it is £10,349 cheaper than the all-electric Mitsubishi i-MiEV’s incentive-included price. Will anyone actually buy Mitsubishi’s four seater?

Turning to the hybrids and bearing in mind that we’re not really comparing like-for-like, the Leaf costs £3845 more than the Prius, £4400 more than the new Toyota Auris and a thumping £7025 more than the Honda Insight.

Will the Leaf succeed? In Japan, by early June, advance orders for the Leaf, which hits the market in December 2010, accounted for its entire sales target for the 2010 fiscal year. In the UK, where the Leaf will be built, there is every reason to expect a similar story. Nissan says that the running costs will be over £500 less per year than a conventional car. Mitsubishi are a little more explicit. They say that the fuel cost of the i-MiEV will be just £115 for 12,000 miles, with a full charge costing 96 pence. Leaf buyers can expect much the same results.

There are drawbacks but the Leaf has many advantages

There are drawbacks – and they’re big ones. You can only charge your battery at home overnight if you have a garage, so if you live in a flat or a terraced house – hard luck. Secondly the electric charging point infrastructure doesn’t exist yet and thirdly, the Leaf, in common with the i-MiEV and all other electric cars in the pipeline, has a very limited range – 100 miles in the Leaf’s case.

If, however your living and driving pattern suits the Leaf, you can take advantage of the low fuel cost, zero car tax, no congestion charge in central London and the free parking which exists now in Westminster and is becoming more widespread as more boroughs adopt green policies.

The Leaf will succeed in Britain - and the more so as time goes on.