As It Awaits a Replacement, Nissan's Fastest-Depreciating Model Sweetens the Pot

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

How do you keep a very long-in-the-tooth model alive when competitors have bypassed it in terms of technology and practicality? Offer sweet deals, obviously.

Nissan’s venerable Leaf, which saw its first U.S. sales in late 2010 and still hasn’t confirmed a North American successor, needs all the help it can get. Not only are electric cars a tough sell in America, but the Leaf faces a growing crop of rivals that top its paltry driving range by roughly 2:1.

Nissan wants to know: would you feel differently if it was much, much cheaper?

Crazy deals and the Leaf seem to go hand in hand. For a couple of years now, we’ve covered stories of customers in certain jurisdictions combining incentives in order to walk away with a new electric car for the price of a used Hyundai.

In the meantime, Nissan has done its part to keep the Leaf viable by slashing the MSRP and, more recently, offering more range. For 2016, Nissan added the option of a larger battery, boosting the model’s potential range from 84 miles to a slightly more palatable 107. This year, it dropped the lesser battery altogether.

Still, a Chevrolet Bolt will take you 238 miles on a charge, and the Tesla Model 3 — which starts limited production this summer before ramping up in the fall — promises about 215.

With this in mind, Nissan has partnered with a major electricity provider to slash the cost of a new Leaf. TTAC’s Bozi Tatarevic came across the deal, which offers Duke Energy customers an extra $10,000 off the MSRP of a 2016 or 2017 model year Leaf. That’s on top of a federal tax credit worth up to $7,500.

Unlike some past deals, there’s no chance of combining this offer with special incentives from the manufacturer.

Still, the combination of Duke Energy customer incentive and federal tax credit shaves $17,500 off the $31,545 MSRP (including destination) of a base Leaf S, bringing the cost to just over $14,000. If there’s a marked-down 2016 model kicking around, expect to pay even less. Because of the Duke Energy tie-in, the offer is only good in six U.S. states: Florida, South and North Carolina, Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio. The deal runs until the end of June.

Despite its age and increasing technological obsolescence, the Leaf still doesn’t have a confirmed replacement in the United States. While the automaker has mentioned a second-generation model with 200-plus miles of range, the timing — and likelihood — of its arrival in the U.S. remains hazy.

And yet, the Leaf soldiers on. Last year’s steep sales slide eventually leveled out and, to its credit, the model has seen monthly year-over-year improvements in sales from last September onwards. The company knows, however, that saving big piles of green is a big incentive to going green.

[Image: Nissan]

Steph Willems
Steph Willems

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  • CecilSaxon CecilSaxon on Apr 16, 2017

    "Not impressed. Nissan, how about being a good citizen by giving out Leafs for free and proving that you actually care about environment. And stop selling that horrible SUVs and trucks. American people will appreciate that and you will immediately become a new green leader and displace Subaru as a default mode of transportation for our cherished urban elite." You were kidding right?

  • Arach Arach on Apr 17, 2017

    I got excited about this, but like everything, its too good to be true. I live in one of these states with the Duke Energy Rebate. However BECAUSE of the rebate, there's no decent deals on cars. Its like when the First Time Home Buyers rebate came out, all the houses went up in value more than the rebate amount... I can't find any cheaper than around $35-37k. Now I found a lot for like "21k" but you call them and they say "Duke Energy rebate, Federal Rebate, Lease Cash, Buyer cash, Military, and recent college grad". So even with the 10k, I can't find any under about $23k, which still isn't cheap enough to buy one.... You can buy a new Hyundai Sonata for like $18k, and that $5k... including Time Value of Money... will pay for a lifetime of gas... So still not cheap enough to possibly consider driving a nissan leaf, which is sad. For all the compromises of an electric vehicle I feel like it SHOULD be about $10 grand.

  • ToolGuy This might be a good option for my spouse when it becomes available -- thought about reserving one but the $500 deposit is a little too serious. Oh sorry, that was the Volvo EX30, not the Mustang. Is Volvo part of Ford? Is the Mustang an EV? I'm so confused.
  • Mikey My late wife loved Mustangs ..We alway rented one while travelling . GM blood vetoed me purchasing one . 3 years after retirement bought an 08 rag top, followed by a 15 EB Hard top, In 18 i bought a low low mileage 05 GT rag with a stick.. The car had not been properly stored. That led to rodent issues !! Electrical nightmare. Lots of bucks !! The stick wasn't kind to my aging knees.. The 05 went to a long term dedicated Mustang guy. He loves it .. Today my garage tenant is a sweet 19 Camaro RS rag 6yl Auto. I just might take it out of hibernation this weekend. The Mustang will always hold a place in my heart.. Kudos to Ford for keeping it alive . I refuse to refer to the fake one by that storied name .
  • Ajla On the Mach-E, I still don't like it but my understanding is that it helps allow Ford to continue offering a V8 in the Mustang and F-150. Considering Dodge and Ram jumped off a cliff into 6-cylinder land there's probably some credibility to that story.
  • Ajla If I was Ford I would just troll Stellantis at all times.
  • Ronin It's one thing to stay tried and true to loyal past customers; you'll ensure a stream of revenue from your installed base- maybe every several years or so.It's another to attract net-new customers, who are dazzled by so many other attractive offerings that have more cargo capacity than that high-floored 4-Runner bed, and are not so scrunched in scrunchy front seats.Like with the FJ Cruiser: don't bother to update it, thereby saving money while explaining customers like it that way, all the way into oblivion. Not recognizing some customers like to actually have right rear visibility in their SUVs.
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