Only 40% of LEAF Reservations Translate into Purchases

Nissan would have us believe that its LEAF all-electric vehicle is revolutionizing transportation around the world and is selling well with both business and individual owners putting their name down for thousands of units around the world. However, according to a recent Auto Observer post, this might not actually be the case.

Reservations for the LEAF EV are not actually translating into sales. While Nissan impressed us all when it announced it had received 20,000 $99 non-refundable deposits for the car, not all people are turning up to actually buy their reserved cars.

“It’s about what I expected. We thought there would be a significant number of drop outs because they took the Volt instead,” said Ed Kim, director of industry analysis at global automotive market research firm AutoPacific.

Only about 4 in 10 people are willing to actually own the LEAF. While the figure is not disastrous, it still means that less than 10,000 cars will be sold in the first US wave. "It's not a really high follow-through, but it's not a bad number," Edmunds.com industry analyst Jessica Caldwell said of the 40 percent "take rate."

Sales at the initial launch were limited to just a handful of states, namely California, Washington, Oregon, Arizona and Tennessee, which have actively been installing EV charging networks and have a high number of electric vehicle advocates.

By comparison, GM is receiving far fewer cancellations for the Volt, as buyers have to go through a dealer, which feels like more of a committed process than the Nissan one, which simply required individuals to visit the Nissan website and put the $99 down.