Nissan on Tuesday announced it would sell its LEAF electric car starting at $40,640 (3.76 million yen) in Japan, counting on government subsidies to slash the cost to consumers for its mass-market bet on the electric car.
Nissan said that this is considerably cheaper than electric cars offered by rivals as it looks to take the lead in the market for zero emission vehicles. Nissan plans to sell 6,000 LEAF electric cars in Japan in the fiscal year ending March 2011. It will start taking orders for the car from Thursday, 1 April.
Nissan will begin the Nissan LEAF nationwide test drive tour in Japan. In addition to test drives, exhibitions and workshops for the general public will be conducted to improve understanding and facilitate the widespread adoption of EVs.
The U.S. sale price for the LEAF will be announced later today. Deliveries of the car will start in December and customers in Japan will be able to place orders starting April 1, Japan’s No. 3 automaker said.
The company said had it already received tentative orders for 9,300 of the curvaceous four-door hatchbacks.
