I would be happy if nissan wasn't keeping us in the dark

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ahillbarnes

New member
Joined
Dec 17, 2010
Messages
1
I for one would be infinitely happier if I didn't feel like I was so in the dark about what is going on. I have been trying to get all kinds of information on why the orders are taking so long, but it is very hard to get information, even from the internet. We placed our order last month and we were told that it was going to be 4-7 months ( march- Jun) to get our car. And that is really about all that we know.

We are up in Oregon so I don't know if our market has anything to do with that or not, it is pretty easy to see that California is their biggest market. But if that is the case then just tell us. We would be a lot more patient if we knew what was going on. So far we have been in this process for about 9 months now.

I would be curious to see what the other Oregon owners timelines look like.
 
Companies generally keep us "in the dark" because they are dealing with a lot of uncertainties. But the market / Competetors prevent them from being honest about the uncertainties. So they give a generic statement (4 to 7 months).
 
California is also in the dark.
They've delivered two cars. There are a couple dozen with a moving delivery estimate in Jan/Feb, and the rest of us are Pending. That's pretty thin gruel for information.
 
You are not in the dark. Open your eyes and wait.
There is no secret agenda to delay any vehicles or deliberately cause fustration.
If the plans change it is best to just accept the change and be patient.

Any lack of delivery information is because the information does not exist or is too vague to be credible.
I have full faith Nissan is producing the LEAF as fast as possible without compromising quality.

Although some of the accessories could be better described or pictured.
 
Yes, it appears that Nissan has slowed the delivery rate to be able to check each LEAF very carefully.

Apparently Nissan wants us to get "top quality" LEAFs, not just any LEAF fallen off the tree!

I applaud their considerable extra efforts.
 
Yes, I would also be much more impressed with Nissan if they told us WHY even most of us in the "first day, first 200, orders" are being delayed.

IMHO, they could be hand building each of these cars and get them out faster than what we ARE seeing, so something is going wrong in the production process that is requiring extreme QC on every car, again IMHO.

I cannot come up with any other scenario to explain why production which started back in October has produced so few cars that can be delivered and why Nissan has had to extend the arrival time of those cars they took orders on even back in August. I got my confirmed order placed on 31 August and my "dashboard" now says delivery in "February 2011."

Of course Volt deliveries got held back too, but at least much of that was the delay in getting the Federal window stickers finalized. At least Chevrolet seems to be getting delivery-ready cars off the production line, and actually putting them on trucks TO customers in volume. It would appear that fewer than a dozen Leaf vehicles will get delivered in 2010, while over 350 Volt cars are on the road TO customers and already as many are actually in customer garages as are Leaf models.

Trade-in values are shifting on our current cars as we are forced to wait for the ordered Leaf vehicles; private party sales of current cars might be lost because of this delay, and we have NO APOLOGY and no understanding as to WHY.

The Leaf is the "only game in town" in terms of affordable all-electric, and it appears Nissan knows we have nowhere else to go, no matter how frustrated we get with them.
 
i have seen and been part of a lot of new product launches. most either did not announce a timeline until literally days before the launch, or simply missed badly on the release dates.

i should tell you about the new building we just moved into. it was supposed to open Aug 1st, then it was Oct 1, then Nov 215th, etc. it just kept being moved back. but then our old building burned down nov 28th.

we had just been told by Qwest that phone and data lines would take another 6-12 weeks. well, after the fire put us out of business, Qwest probably realized that our million dollar per month phone bill would not be paid unless they got on the ball. so by Dec 5th, we started moving into the new building. granted we are not there yet. we need 600 line installed, we currently have 225 at various levels of functionality (We dont even have a fax line!!)

but one thing we found out. things can get done if someone wants them done bad enough. Nissan wants this badly, very badly and they are doing everything they can to get it done. we can cry about how long its taking, but lets face it. Nissan is MONTHS ahead (years in some cases) of anyone else. the fact that all cars have to come from Japan is not in their favor.

i personally thank Nissan for their efforts, i am willing to exercise a little patience...as long as its just a "little" patience
 
No matter how you slice it.. it's weird that we watched Job #1 in what, October?
And three or four cars have been delivered since.
If the line has been running, where are they all going?

You can expect that Chevy will be crowing "America produced more EVs than all imports in 2010" come Jan 1. Or something like that. My neighbor says he'll be giving me an electric ride on Christmas "maybe to the Nissan dealer to ask where your car is."

ouch.
 
GroundLoop said:
No matter how you slice it.. it's weird that we watched Job #1 in what, October?
And three or four cars have been delivered since.
If the line has been running, where are they all going?

You can expect that Chevy will be crowing "America produced more EVs than all imports in 2010" come Jan 1. Or something like that. My neighbor says he'll be giving me an electric ride on Christmas "maybe to the Nissan dealer to ask where your car is."

ouch.

They would have to produce an EV, and not a glorified hybrid, to make that claim.

Plus, I think some of you are getting out of hand... we will get our cars when we get them.

Nissan is the first to pioneer this path of mass production electrics and they want to get it right.

Also, I do not see any other manufacturers doing anything like this, let alone keeping consumers in the loop as much as they have so far.
 
Skywagon said:
GroundLoop said:
No matter how you slice it.. it's weird that we watched Job #1 in what, October?
And three or four cars have been delivered since.
If the line has been running, where are they all going?

You can expect that Chevy will be crowing "America produced more EVs than all imports in 2010" come Jan 1. Or something like that. My neighbor says he'll be giving me an electric ride on Christmas "maybe to the Nissan dealer to ask where your car is."

ouch.
They would have to produce an EV, and not a glorified hybrid, to make that claim.
Not really. They've been making all kinds of half-true claims so far. I don't see why they'd stop now.
Nissan is the first to pioneer this path of mass production electrics and they want to get it right.
I give them a 7 out of 10 on customer (order holder) Communication. Not failing, but not great.
Also, I do not see any other manufacturers doing anything like this, let alone keeping consumers in the loop as much as they have so far.
I hate to hold Chevy up as an example of anything, but man they are Head & Shoulders above Nissan in this regard. They have kept Volt buyers in the loop much better than Nissan ever has. Each car has a "status" tracking it through production, and the buyers seem to know exactly where their cars are -- on the lot, on the train, etc.

I credit part of this to the simplified logistics of Domestic manufacturing and headquarters, but you have to give it up for their superior communication. Even if the "official Chevy" communication is quiet, they have established a number of trusted back-channels where they do supply useful information and order details. The CAB is another example.

That's a great deal better than the useless "Pending", missing accessory pictures before order, and so on.

Me, I'm not too wound up about it. But a new car is a 'planned' event for many folks, who need to coordinate plans for their old vehicles, finances, and so on. Nissan has nothing to gain by making this confusing. If my current car was falling apart, "Pending" wouldn't do it for me, and Nissan should be confident enough to say "Q2 2011".
 
I agree, I would be happier if Nissan would just give me a phone call and say "we are working on it. Thank you for your patience." What Nissan is doing is: " your LEAF is estimated delivery of 2 to 3 months." A month later, Nissan states: "your LEAF delivery is 4 to 6 months." It is correct that it is the only affordable electric vehicle available at this time and that is why I don't cancel my order!
 
GeorgeParrott said:
It would appear that fewer than a dozen Leaf vehicles will get delivered in 2010, while over 350 Volt cars are on the road TO customers and already as many are actually in customer garages as are Leaf models.
My bet is that most of the Jan deliveries will happen in the next 2 weeks.

BTW, GM has also shipped Volt's that couldn't be delivered to customer because it said "check engine".
 
GeorgeParrott said:
It would appear that fewer than a dozen Leaf vehicles will get delivered in 2010, while over 350 Volt cars are on the road TO customers and already as many are actually in customer garages as are Leaf models.

That was only the first shipment. There is another ship due to dock Dec. 20/23 (I've heard both dates) and there are MANY more on that boat with most of those possibly to be delivered before January.
 
ahillbarnes said:
We placed our order last month and we were told that it was going to be 4-7 months ( march- Jun) to get our car. And that is really about all that we know.

I had a chance to speak with Mark Perry at the San Diego LEAF delivery. I asked specifically about upcoming deliveries and wrote this report. Based on my conversation, you will have your car by the end of next summer. Likely it will be before then, as you have already placed your order. Nissan's quality checks on the initial vehicles are considerably more extensive than is typical. They want to be sure that there are no quality issues at all with LEAF, so if that means a slower initial rollout, there will be a slower initial rollout. I agree with your assessment though - Nissan could be more informative.
 
Ya know a big part of this is OUR culture. The Japanese do not understand the need for rampant transparency because THEY know they are working hard on what needs to be done. It is not that customers are unimportant to them but doing a good job is far more so. To them, you focus 100% on the work, work hard and never stop. To be honest, it is considered insulting by the Japanese to constantly be questioned about what they are doing. It implies we think they are doing something wrong and is considered very disrespectful. The Japanese reaction to recent questioning of Toyota executives in Washington should be a big clue. These executives had never been mobbed by reporters in their lives. This is only done to common criminals. Anyways, I have spent time in Japanese culture and have an Asian wife. Trust me, her family looks at corporations and work very differently than the typical American. For my wife's family it is very simple, NEVER QUESTION JUST DO!
 
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