First customer vehicle delivered
Seemingly, as with all things Nissan and internet, the live video stream failed to operate properly. Due to holiday plans, we weren’t able to wait until the technical gremlins were resolved before watching the video. But now that we’ve had a chance to see it, we found that it was useful, and provided us with some new information.
Here is a link to an unlisted YouTube video of the San Francisco press conference. (We didn’t even know that YouTube had unlisted videos.) At almost 30 minutes long, after two holiday parties, and well past our bed time, we reviewed the press conference to save you the agony. The first half is primarily local government and environmental agency officials. At about the 7:00 minute mark Rafael Reyes of the Bay Area Climate Collaborative made some interesting remarks about modes of transportation on the streets of San Francisco 100 years ago.
About halfway through (16:45) Carlos Tavares, Chairman of Nissan Americas starts speaking. The most pertinent points made though, are these (with video timing):
- 25:03 “A second shipment of Nissan LEAFs arrives on December 23…”
- 26:17 “As production of Nissan LEAF ramps up throughout the first quarter we will be vigilant in the manufacturing process to insure the highest levels of quality and craftsmanship in every unit that leaves our factory. Because of this, we don’t expect to reach a steady production volume until the second quarter. But rest assured, that Nissan is dedicated to making sure that any reservationist who ordered a car in our first seven launch markets will be driving their Nissan LEAF at the latest by the end of summer 2011.”
Not mentioned was how many cars would be included in that December 23 arrival. The last remarks especially reinforce what we said yesterday. Initial production will be less than capacity to ensure quality standards. But now we know that “steady production” is expected to begin in the second quarter of next year. As we mentioned to someone at a party last evening, it is better to produce fewer cars initially with every car perfect, than to produce too many cars to meet an arbitrary deadline, only to have quality issues surface later. We applaud Nissan’s cautious approach with such a significant vehicle.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
The promise to deliver by the end of the summer is unclear to me. Is Carlos including all reservations in the launch States or does his comment refer only to people that have already ordered. Is my January order date included in his promise?
How will the slow down in deliverys affect Ecotalitys Government study of charger usage? I believe that Nissan had previously committed to deliver 5,700 or more Leafs to the study. i believe that the study of usage kicks off July1 with all chargers required to be installed by the end of June.
stanley – the unfortunate part about reporting these comments is not being there to be able to clarify. I will be attending the San Diego first LEAF delivery December 13. I will see if I can get some clarification regarding the summer delivery statement. Regarding the Ecotality study – my feeling is that once they start installations, they will be working closely with Nissan, and those selected for delivery will get a charge station. I don’t think that they will jeopardize the study, so installations will happen to accommodate the study.