Nissan India has confirmed once again to launch the Leaf EV in India, putting a possible timeline to the launch
Nissan India has long been contemplating an option to bring the popular Leaf EV to India. The most sold electric car globally, Nissan already offer Leaf to various state governments as a marketing activity and first showcased the hatchback in India back in 2015.
Then in early 2019, Nissan Senior Vice President and Chairman of Management Committee for Africa, Middle East and India Peyman Kargar told media that Japanese auto major Nissan will launch its electric car Leaf in India this year.
Now in an interview, Hardeep Singh Brar, Director, Nissan India sales has confirmed that the Nissan Leaf EV will make its India entry by Q4 2019, meaning we can see the electric car on Indian roads as early as Diwali 2019.
Nissan Leaf is the first electric car to cross 400,000 unit sales globally after being introduced for the first time in 2010. Given the high price point the Nissan Leaf will attract, it will be limited only to the metro cities and select government institutions.
Nissan is also contemplating an option to bring Nissan’s e-Power technology that will make the Leaf EV more attractive to the buyers. The Nissan e-Power tech uses an electric motor to power the vehicle, but at the same time, it has a small petrol engine to charge the battery when needed, thus doing away with the need for an external charger. Nissan already uses the e-power on its different models in Japan.
Nissan is a global auto brand with successful market operations in many countries globally but failed to capture the imagination of the Indian buyers. Nissan sold only 1,304 units in July 2019, a massive 53 percent decline in sales as compared to July 2018 when Nissan sold 2,802 units.
The primary reason for sales decline is Nissan’s announcement to discontinue most of the cars like Terrano, Micra and Sunny and continue focusing on premium products like Kicks and Leaf, whenever it is launched. Nissan will continue to offer budget cars like Go and Go+ under the Datsun sub brand.