The two huge green vehicle releases for this year are the Nissan Leaf and the Chevy Volt. The Leaf, as an all-electric car, stands out from the crowd of hybrids. The Leaf can be accessible for sale at dealerships by the end of 2010. Nissan, like Toyota Motors does for the Prius, started taking advance orders. However, the advance purchases are presently maxed out. The first release will only be in a few states, so don’t feel too cheated.
First run almost all owned
The Nissan Leaf has been hotly envisioned, as the first all-electric car from a major automaker. Nearly each and every other green car that is offered is a hybrid, such as the Toyota Prius or Honda Insight. According to the NY Times, Nissan offered consumers the chance to reserve an auto in advance. That was in April. Nissan has put available a demonstration test fleet. The goal was to spread word of mouth, and get the reservations full by December. However, all 20,000 reservation slots have already been booked. That is quite a result for Nissan. The goal is realized three months ahead of schedule.
Eats and leafs
The plan made sense. Demonstrate an electric vehicle, and boost demand enough over time that 20,000 people want to book one when it comes available. Nissan is already touring with a demonstration Leaf or two around the country, however at this point it seems almost unnecessary. You will find presently 20,000 reservations, and the vehicle comes available in December. It will only be accessible in 5 states initially. Dealers in Washington state, California, Oregon, Arizona and Tennessee get the car in December. After the first launch, Texas and Hawaii get the cars in January 2011. Full national sales could be underway by the end of next year.
Why leaf it at this
The way of the future, inevitably, could be electric and hybrid cars. The supply of oil on the Earth will eventually run out. Eventually, cars like the Leaf will be the rule, and not the exception.
Additional reading
NY Times
wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/24/thinking-of-buying-a-nissan-leaf-get-in-line/
