New US Based Production (And Pricing) Of the 2013 Nissan LEAF Has Been A Big Hit With Consumers

The decision to bring pricing down, and production to the US, on the 2013 Nissan LEAF has paid some immediately dividends as 2,236 LEAFs were sold in the US in March.

New Nissan Advertising Strategy: Show The Car. Show The Price.

After slogging through the first two months of the year without any remaining 2012 inventory left to sell (650 for January and 652 in February), the new US LEAF assembly plant in Smyrna, TN, produced not only the 2,236 Nissan sold during March, but also increased national inventories at the dealership level to over 2,300. Nissan expects national inventories to be optimized from coast-to-coast by the end of April.

The 2,236 LEAFs also represent the most EVs ever sold by Nissan in a month in the US, passing June of 2011's 1,708, as well as the high-water mark for monthly sales for any pure electric vehicle for the US.

Thanks to March's result, year-to-date sales for 2013 are more than double that of 2012, 3,539 to 1,733.

The new 2013 LEAF lowers the cost of entry to the model by $6,400, as the new entry level "S Model" has been introduced starting at $28,800, with a national lease deal set at $199/month.

Also, contributing to LEAF sales was a new "loyalty" program introduced by Nissan that allowed former LEAF owners (and their family members) a further $1,000 of the MSRP if they picked up a 2013 LEAF (or other qualifiying Nissan vehicle).

While the final numbers are not in yet for this month, the resurgent LEAF, along with continued strong numbers from Chevrolet with the Volt, and ramping production from Tesla with the Models S, will likely surpass the number of plug-in vehicles that were sold in December of 2012, making March of 2013 the best selling month for electric vehicles of all time.