TOKYO: Nissan Motor said yesterday it will start selling its zero-emission Leaf electric car in Japan from December as it tries get a foothold in the growing green car market.
LEAF TO HIT THE MARKET: Nissan Motors Co Chief Operating Officer Toshiyuki Shiga (right) is surrounded by media after a news conference to announce the price tag for the world’s first mass produced electric car, Leaf, at the company’s global headquarters in Yokohama, south of Tokyo. Nissan Motor said yesterday it would sell the Leaf electric car for around ¥3.76 million (US$40,640) in Japan before government subsidies, disclosing a price for the first time as it aims to take the lead in zero-emission vehicles. — Reuters photo
The automaker, which is 44 per cent owned by France’s Renault, said the car would cost ¥3.76 million (US$40,700), but the price would fall to ¥2.99 million when government incentives are included.
As Japan has crawled out of severe recession the government last year launched a campaign to revive flagging auto sales and boost environmentally friendly cars through tax breaks and cash-back programmes.
Nissan, Japan’s third-largest carmaker, is banking on electric vehicles (EVs) to boost its growth and will compete with Mitsubishi Motors’ i-MiEV and Fuji Heavy, which makes the Subaru Plug-in Stella.
Toyota, the world’s largest car maker, has focused on petrol-electric hybrids such as the Prius, Japan’s best-selling car since early last year, but has also promised to launch its own EV by 2012.
Nissan describes its Leaf, a mid-sized hatchback, as “the world’s first affordable, zero-emission car”. It can travel more than 160 kilometres (100 miles) on a single charge, at a top speed of 140 kilometres per hour.
The company calculated that over six years a driver would pay ¥86,000 in electricity costs based on 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) a month of driving — compared to about ¥670,000 in fuel costs for a conventional petrol car.
Owners will be able to recharge the battery at home through the domestic power supply in about eight hours, or top it up to 80 per cent capacity in around 30 minutes at electric recharging stations, according to Nissan.
“While a car in a similar class emits around 10 tonnes of carbon dioxide in the course of six years, Nissan Leaf produces zero emissions while driving,” said Takao Katagiri, senior vice president for sales and marketing in Japan.
Nissan said it will start taking Leaf pre-orders in Japan on April 1.
It aims to sell 6,000 units in Japan in the year ending March 2011 and is expected to begin sales in North America and Europe sometime early next year, before wider global sales kick off in 2012, a company spokesman said. — AFP