It seems like Nissan is the victim of the LEAF’s success. We learned today that the automaker has stopped taking orders for its 100% electric car so it can fill the ones that have already been received.
Nissan has to juggle with the fact that production was set at 10,000 units by March 31, while 27,000 clients from the U.S., Japan and Europe have already declared their intention of acquiring one.
Toshiyuki Shiga, Chief Operating Officer, revealed that the automaker should be able to build 50,000 units during the next fiscal year, which starts on April 1. Of that number, 17,000 are already earmarked for clients waiting for their model. That means that the remaining 33,000 cars will be used to fill the new orders placed worldwide.
Saying Nissan will start taking orders again “after we deliver enough volume to the first lot,” Shiga nonetheless admitted that balancing demands for the different regions would be “a little tough.”
So what can we Canadians, who’ll be able to place our orders sometime this year, expect? Going by the situation in the U.S., we’ll simply have to be patient.
The 6,000 orders placed in Japan should all be filled by March. However, our neighbours down south will have to wait a little longer because of “shipping timing and deliveries to Japan”.
On a positive note, the problems should be resolved in 2012 or 2013 with the inauguration of assembly plants in the U.K. and the U.S., taking some of the pressure off the Oppama, Japan, plant that currently has sole responsibility for producing the LEAF.
Source: Automotive News
Nissan has to juggle with the fact that production was set at 10,000 units by March 31, while 27,000 clients from the U.S., Japan and Europe have already declared their intention of acquiring one.
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| Photo: Nissan |
Toshiyuki Shiga, Chief Operating Officer, revealed that the automaker should be able to build 50,000 units during the next fiscal year, which starts on April 1. Of that number, 17,000 are already earmarked for clients waiting for their model. That means that the remaining 33,000 cars will be used to fill the new orders placed worldwide.
Saying Nissan will start taking orders again “after we deliver enough volume to the first lot,” Shiga nonetheless admitted that balancing demands for the different regions would be “a little tough.”
So what can we Canadians, who’ll be able to place our orders sometime this year, expect? Going by the situation in the U.S., we’ll simply have to be patient.
The 6,000 orders placed in Japan should all be filled by March. However, our neighbours down south will have to wait a little longer because of “shipping timing and deliveries to Japan”.
On a positive note, the problems should be resolved in 2012 or 2013 with the inauguration of assembly plants in the U.K. and the U.S., taking some of the pressure off the Oppama, Japan, plant that currently has sole responsibility for producing the LEAF.
Source: Automotive News