Electric Leaf To Redefine Nissan Brand as Innovator
By Michelle Krebs November 2, 2010 
The Nissan Leaf is more than the first of a number of all-electric vehicles from Nissan; it draws a line in the sand to define the entire brand as an innovator, according to a top company executive.
"Customers didn't know what Nissan stood for," Nissan Americas Chairman Carlos Tavares told the Automotive Press Association in Detroit Monday. The Leaf, however, "will be the flag" for Nissan as a brand recognized for innovation, he added.
Indeed, before its recall crisis, Toyota was synonymous with bullet-proof quality; Honda for engineering expertise. That left Nissan's brand image a tad fuzzy, causing consumers to wonder -- if they gave Nissan a thought at all -- why buy one?
The Leaf, however, gives consumers a new reason to consider a Nissan. The automaker closed its reservation program in September -- three months ahead of schedule -- with 20,000 reservations; another 250,000 people have expressed interest in the Leaf. In total, 80 percent are new to Nissan.
Of those who have reserved a Leaf, 90 percent have not owned a Nissan. They are high income households, with two or more vehicles in the family fleet. "We are attracting new types of customers to the Nissan family," said Tavares.
Edmunds.com data shows cross-shopping trends for the Leaf include the expected suspects, but some oddballs as well.
In September, the latest data available, the vehicle most cross-shopped with the Leaf was the Toyota Prius hybrid. In other words, of those people who shopped the Nissan Leaf on Edmunds.com, 28 percent also looked at the Prius. The percentage of cross-shopping with the Prius has been rising in recent months.
In contrast, cross-shopping with the Honda Insight, the No. 2 most cross-shopped vehicle by Leaf shoppers, has been decreasing in recent months. Of Leaf shoppers, 15 percent also looked at an Insight, down from 42 percent months earlier.
Not surprisingly, the Chevrolet Volt, a plug-in hybrid with a gas engine for extended range, ranked third among vehicles cross-shopped by Nissan Leaf shoppers. The Volt and Leaf go on sale at about the same time in December. The new Honda CR-Z, a sport two-seat hybrid, was No. 4 for Leaf cross-shoppers.
The rest of the list is rounded out with a number of other hybrid models and small cars with a truck -- the Chevrolet Silverado -- and a large SUV -- the GMC Yukon thrown in.
Beyond Leaf
Tavares dismisses skeptics and reports, like last week's released by J. D. Power and Associates that predict an uphill battle for selling electric vehicles even at low volumes. The J.D. Power forecast put hybrid and electric vehicle sales at only 7.3 percent of the global market by 2020; the U.S. electric car market will be a mere 100,000 vehicles at that time, the study further said.
"We believe that electric vehicles will comprise 10 percent of the worldwide automotive market by 2020," Tavares told the Automotive Press Association.
Nissan estimates electric vehicles will account for 6.5 percent of the U.S. market by 2020. In a market of 12 million vehicles, that would represent 780,000 vehicles.
By the end of 2012, Nissan will be capable of producing 150,000 Nissan Leafs and 200,000 lithium-ion battery packs at its factory in Smyrna, Tenn., in addition to current production, which has just begun in Oppama, Japan.
By 2014, Nissan will have two more electric vehicles in its product portfolio: an electric commercial vehicle and an Infiniti electric vehicle, which the automaker claims will be the first EV in the luxury segment.
Nissan also will show a small two-seater city vehicle concept powered by electricity.
"We believe the advent of a zero-emissions society is a once in a lifetime opportunity to change," Tavares said.
Photo by Nissan
The Nissan Leaf officially goes on sale in December.
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