Nissan Leaf Moves to the US. Slowly

It has been perhaps the most anticipated car in Nissan's lineup in years. It benefits from nearly two years of sustained action taken by the Renault Nissan Zero Emissions Alliance to ready the infrastructure for its arrival. And, on top of it all, it surpassed the car maker's expectations when it came to the number of people pre-ordering now.

It is, at the same time, almost nowhere to be seen. Nissan's first electric vehicle, the Leaf, is having a very hard time reaching its US customers, causing irritation among those who went for a Japanese all electric instead of the American-made plug-in Volt.

There is no problem with the delivery process, Nissan tries to defend itself, but rather a lack of understanding from the consumers. Having delivered only 19 units of the Leaf last month, Nissan is having a hard time trying to explain to its customers how the entire order-delivery process takes place when it comes to the EVs.

"There is no production delay," Katherine Zachary, Nissan North America spokeswoman was quoted as saying by Autonews. "We didn't do a great job communicating about the delivery process with all of our customers."

Just as is the case with the Volt, only a few markets will see the Leaf on the roads in this first year of its existence. For some reason, GM customers understood better than Leaf buyers that the privilege of being among the first in the US to own one of the two electric vehicles comes with a price and, at times, a long, long wait.