Sat Oct 13, 2018 3:12 pm
Just to bring the conversation back to the 2019 40 kWh Leaf, I'm still puzzled by this model's very existence. Nissan will supposedly close on the sale of AESC in March 2019 to Envision, so some questions I have, in no particular order of importance:
1. Who makes the 40 kWh battery in the 2019 Leaf? Most people would say AESC, but is there definitive proof of this somewhere?
2. If AESC makes the 40 kWh batteries in the 2019 Leaf, then why would Nissan offer a 40 kWh model only to sell off their 40 kWh battery supply in 5 months?
3. After March 2019, who will supply the 40 kWh battery? Will Nissan simply buy these batteries from Envision that they used to get "for free" (or at least, at cost)? Won't this be more expensive for Nissan, at least initially? Alternatively, will LG Chem supply both the Leaf's 40 kWh and 60 kWh batteries? If so, given Hyundai/Kia's problems in securing enough batteries from LG Chem, what's Nissan's plan for guaranteeing they have enough batteries? Or will Nissan simply discontinue the 40 kWh version after March 2019?
4. This question is more about the 60 kWh version of the Leaf: what is the actual reason for Nissan's vague announcement last month that the long-range Leaf will be released at some point "in the future"? Are there delays in producing the 60 kWh version? Or is this vagueness a kind of marketing strategy that Nissan hopes will prod people into buying up the remaining 40 kWh Leafs over the next few months?
I find the uncertainty around these questions annoying. Contrary to a lot of people's view on MNL that deals on the 2018 Leafs will only get better over the next few months, I actually think we're past the point of peak deals on the 2018 models - supply is dwindling, and Nissan USA is offering less cash back than they did last month even though the 2018s are now a month older. So the longer you wait, the real price of the 2018s goes up. Meanwhile there's still no meaningful information on the price and availability of the 60 kWh Leaf. It could come out very soon, in the next few months, as a low-mid $30K car. It could come out in 2020 as a $40+ car. It could not come out at all. And everything in between....
Last edited by
Kieran973 on Sat Oct 13, 2018 3:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.