Nissan Motor Co., aiming to be the world's biggest seller of electric vehicles, will sell its battery-powered Leaf car from 3.76 million yen ($40,600) in Japan before government subsidies, less than Mitsubishi Motors Corp.'s 4.6 million yen all-electric i-MiEV.
The Leaf will be eligible for a 770,000 yen government credit and have a retail price of 2.99 million yen, if current incentives continue through fiscal 2010, Nissan said in a statement today. Mitsubishi's car qualified for a 1.4 million yen subsidy this fiscal year, spokesman Kai Inada said.
Nissan leads Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. in introducing all-electric cars for the mass market as government subsidies and stricter emission rules spur carmakers to develop battery-powered models. Toyota was first to release a hybrid vehicle in 1997, when it began selling the Prius.
"We tried hard to lower the price to make sure that electric vehicles will be popular," Chief Operating Officer Toshiyuki Shiga said. "If consumers drive the Leaf for five to six years, they will realize that the car will have the same cost as a regular gasoline car of the same size."
The cost of electricity used to power the Leaf would total 86,000 yen over six years, while a similar-sized gasoline car would use 670,000 yen of fuel during the same period if both cars are driven 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) a month, Nissan said. Nissan's estimates are based on Leaf drivers recharging their cars at night, while the gasoline-powered vehicles are assumed to use fuel costing 148 yen a liter.
i-MiEV, Prius
Yokohama-based Nissan didn't give details on how it calculated its expected government subsidy for the Leaf cars. Buyers of the Leaf will also be exempt from Japan's car-weight tax and the car-acquisition tax, Nissan said.
Nissan will start taking local orders for the compact hatchback from April 1 and expects to sell 6,000 units in fiscal 2010 after the first deliveries in December. The company will also start selling the Leaf later this year in the U.S. and Europe. Chief Executive Officer Carlos Ghosn expects electric cars will make up at least 10 percent of global vehicle demand by 2020.
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