Reddy said:
It's not just on the islands. Went to our dealership and there is ONE red 2013 model, fully loaded. No shipments planned. They can do a dealer-2-dealer trade (probably from Portland) if you don't like the color or model. And don't plan on negotiating a super good deal, MSRP only. It's hard to understand why CA can sell for less when everything else (land, salaries, utilities, etc) are so much more than here. I guess that means our dealerships are making a pretty good profit.
I was fortunate to get my lease deal on a 2012 Leaf SL w/ added leather, 3 years, 12k miles a year, for only $2999 down (of which $2500 was rebated back to me by the State and $225 was my 1st month payment), 35 more months @ $225 month, $395 disposition fee. I'll only pay $8770 total for the lease deal. But that was last October when I not only got the $2500 CA rebate and the usual $7500 Federal rolled into the lease, but ALSO another $2000 Nissan end of year rebate (which appears on my contract as another $2000 down, thus enabling that low $225 rate).
I am planning to lease another SL soon without the $2000 2012 Nissan end of year rebate, but hopefully WITH the VPP pricing PLUS a $1000 customer loyalty rebate. Two dealers close to me have 87 and 53 2013 Leafs in stock right now (Sunnyvale and Boardwalk Nissan).
I see 4 possible reasons why Nissan has chosen to ship so many EARLY units to CA, thus driving the prices down here relative to some other states:
1) Last year Leaf sales did not meet demand outside of CA. You can Google and find articles where Nissan admitted they overestimated demand outside of CA and got stuck with a lot of inventory late last year. It looks like this year they may have overcompensated for their mistake.
2) With the extra $2500 State of CA customer rebate on purchases AND leases of 3 years or more, it only makes sense to market your product where customers will pay less for the car = Higher demand in CA
3) The price of gas here is always higher than anywhere else on the mainland - above $4 a gallon - so we are more motivated to reduce our fuel costs = Higher demand in CA
4) Lastly, and not as significant, many more Californians like I have solar at home which I run my electric car off of a reduced cost = Higher demand in CA
One last thing, out of the 140 Leafs on our 2 lots, only about 25 are the cheaper and hot selling S models. Either Nissan once again miscalculated demand (this time both in states other than CA AND by model) or they did it on purpose to make more money per unit?
Perhaps as production ramps up supply will be constant in CA and increase in other states (which should bring your cost down). Let's hope so!