Nissan Leaf Surpasses 50,000 Global Sales
Nissan announced today that Nissan Leaf sales broke past the 50,000 unit mark worldwide.
Arguably the benchmark for electric cars, Leaf sales keep inching forward but failed to meet U.S. targets in 2012. The brand hoped to sell 20,000 in the U.S., but only managed to eek out 9,819 sales by year’s end.
Nissan also said in its press release that Leaf owners have collectively driven 260 million kilometers, or farther than 161 million miles — a distance greater than the space between the earth and sun. In a more tangible statistic, the brand also highlighted that its Carwings telemetry system recorded that an owner in Spain logged more than 26,700 miles in a single year.
SEE ALSO: NY Mayor Aims for 10,000 Electric Car Charging Spaces
Slow electric car sales are widely attributed to high initial cost and scarce charging infrastructure. Nissan announced that it would drop the price on its 2013 Leaf during the Detroit Auto Show in January to start from $28,800, which is a $6,000 price drop over the 2012 model.
Adding adequate charging stations will be a more long term issue, but progress is on the way. Today, New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a proposal that could see 10,000 public charging spaces added to the city over the next seven years.
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Luke is an energetic automotive journalist who spends his time covering industry news and crawling the internet for the latest breaking story. When he isn't in the office, Luke can be found obsessively browsing used car listings, drinking scotch at his favorite bar and dreaming of what to drive next, though the list grows a lot faster than his bank account. He's always on <A title="@lukevandezande on Twitter" href="http://twitter.com/lukevandezande">Twitter</A> looking for a good car conversation. Find Luke on <A title="@lukevandezande on Twitter" href="http://twitter.com/lukevandezande">Twitter</A> and <A title="Luke on Google+" href="http://plus.google.com/112531385961538774338?rel=author">Google+</A>.
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