Nissan LEAF EV priced

The Nissan LEAF EV will sell at £21,500 in Japan after subsidies are taken in to account

Nissan has revealed that the net cost of the electric Nissan LEAF in Japan will be £21,500 when it launches later this year.

Update: US prices for the Nisaan Leaf added at the bottom

The Nissan LEAF is the first of Nissan’s much trumpeted range of electric cars, and much hangs on the success of the LEAF. Nissan has hung a big part of their future on electric cars and they expect the LEAF  to be a proper commercial success.

Which if they’ve got their sums right – and they’re actually making money on each car they sell – should now be an almost racing certainty after revealing that the C-Segment sized LEAF significantly undercuts the pocket-sized Mitsubishi i-MiEV in Japan, with a price set at ¥3.76 Million (around £27,000) in comparison to the i-MiEV’s ¥4.6 Million (around £33,000).

Just as in the UK, the Japanese Government has a subsidy for electric cars so the LEAF will drop by ¥1 Million and actually cost £21,500. Which is still expensive in comparison to a traditionally driven car of its size, but much cheaper than we were expecting from Nissan.

It’s also far more expensive than the perceived competition – the Toyota Prius – which comes in at around a third less. But Nissan’s chief operating officer Toshiyuki Shiga is at pains to point out that the Prius – and other hybrids – still use petrol. He said:

“The most important point of our cars is zero-emissions. Hybrid vehicles still consume gasoline. I want to fully push this sales point.”

Which is of course a load of old bull unless you happen to be using  electricity which has only been sourced from a source with no carbon input. Which is very unlikely. But we do applaud the balls to bring the Nissan LEAF in at price that is almost competitive with conventional drivetrains.

Nissan are due to release US price later today – we’ll update with those when they come in.

Update: US prices have now been announced. The Nisaan LEAF will cost $25,280 after the US Govt. rebate of $7,500, meaning a sell price around £17,000, with lease options from $349 a month (£231).