On July 21, Nissan sent out a marketing email. We opened it, scanned it and didn’t really pay much attention. Only today did we find out a useful nugget of information contained within the email. The subject line of this email was: Nissan LEAF News: the future has arrived.
If you are holding a reservation, or have even just been a hand-raiser so far, Nissan is now seeking your input. Nissan is forming a Nissan LEAF Online Research Panel, and is seeking panelists. If you are wondering why they might be doing such a thing, there are several possible reasons.
- Nissan wants input on easily modified items prior to launch (vehicle color, for instance)
- Once launched, feedback on usage could be important to modifications to LEAF 2.0
- A major manufacturer might actually be seeking, and listening to, the voice of the customer
This third and last point might be the real power of this panel. As consumers, we will have direct input to a major automobile manufacturer in a timely, ongoing basis. To our knowledge, no other manufacturer has taken this step. If you have received this email communication from Nissan, we suggest that you become a panelist. This may be the first time ever that consumers, on a reasonably large scale, have a direct line to a corporate ear. As Nissan has taken this first step – inviting consumer panelists – the strength of this measure lies with Nissan yet again – how willing will they be to really listen to what the panelists have to say? It is the answer to that question that could move the LEAF from the first broadly available EV in the marketplace to the dominant EV in the marketplace.