Nissan unveils a green Leaf: It's electric
The Nissan Leaf electric car debuted at Nissan headquarters in Yokohama, Japan, on Friday. (Dec. 3, 2010.) Credit: AFP/Getty Images
YOKOHAMA, Japan - Nissan showed off its Leaf electric car Friday, trumpeting its zero-emission technology and practicality with video of the hatchback zipping through snow and water.
The car, among the world's first mass-market electric vehicles, is already sold out until March 2011 because of limited production capacity. There have been 6,000 orders in Japan and 20,000 in the United States. It arrives in Europe next year.
"This day has finally arrived," a grinning Nissan Motor Co. chief operating officer Toshiyuki Shiga said before posing for photographs with Japanese customers who had placed orders for the Leaf. "The curtains are about to rise for a new era in the auto industry."
The manufacturer's U.S. suggested retail price is $33,600. Some states offer incentives and rebates for the electric car, and a taxpayer can claim a $7,500 federal tax credit for purchasing a Leaf.
The Leaf joins a small club of commercially available mass-produced electric vehicles. General Motors Co.'s Chevrolet Volt - which costs $41,000 - goes on sale this month. The i-MiEV minicar from Mitsubishi Motors Corp. went on sale in Japan in April and costs $34,000.
To highlight the green message, Nissan used recycled material for the interior, including seat cover cloth made of recycled plastic bottles. The car is almost completely recyclable, it said.
