As for pricing, the Leaf will start from 3.76mil yen (RM130,344), and if current government incentives in Japan continue through 2010, the Leaf will be eligible for a 770,000-yen government incentive credit; with the incentive, the consumer’s net price for vehicle will be 2.99mil yen (RM103,640). The car will also be exempt from the car-weight tax and the car-acquisition tax.
Nissan is offering Japanese customers various purchasing methods, including a Nissan Auto Loan. For example, it has designed a program that allows consumers to pay only 2.4mil yen (RM83,190) as a downpayment and then a low monthly fee of 10,000 yen (RM347), which includes the cost for electricity.
Compared to cars in a similar class, Nissan says the Leaf’s cost of ownership is competitive. During six years of ownership, the electricity cost would be 86,000 yen (RM2,981). In contrast, the cost for a petrol-based vehicle in a similar class would be 670,000 yen (RM23,224).
The company will offer a variety of services to customers who purchase the Leaf, and this includes assisting customers in the installation of charging facilities for private homes.
Before the release of the vehicle in Dec, 200-volt regular chargers will be installed at all Nissan dealers nationwide, at a total of 2,200 locations. In addition, about 200 dealers will have quick-charging facilities - a quick charger provides 80% of battery capacity in less than 30 minutes. For the convenience of Leaf owners, at least one quick-charge unit will be available within a 40km radius throughout the country.
The company also announced that it is developing a new quick charger that is almost half the current market price of quick chargers available currently. The new quick charger will be installed at 200 Nissan dealers nationwide by Dec, and will be available commercially in the future.
