One more continent down
Today Nissan announced the launch of the Nissan LEAF in Australia. The expansion of the electric vehicle (EV) market continues to expand with this new LEAF market.
It seems that the LEAF rollout in Australia will be as carefully modulated as it was in the United States as there are currently only 13 LEAF certified dealers in Australia. That is not very many, when an Australian point of interest (POI) database shows 221 Nissan dealerships spread across the country. Then again, production capacity out of Oppama, Japan must be getting stretched pretty thin trying to provide product for new global launches as well as current demand in existing markets. We expect that demand to be more properly satisfied when LEAF production begins in Smyrna, Tennessee later this year.
Mitsubishi beat Nissan to the punch by landing the Mitsubishi i EV in Australia almost two years ago. Early vehicles went to commercial fleets but the public was not able to buy the i until August of 2011.
According to Nissan Australia CEO Bill Peffer “This is just the first EV that Nissan will introduce to Australia. As a company we are pleased to have LEAF and our upcoming EV range as a major part of Australia’s zero emission future.”