Nissan to launch 3rd-generation Leaf EV this year
Japan's Nissan Motor Co. said Tuesday that it will begin selling the third-generation Leaf electric vehicle in the domestic market later this year.
A high-end model of the new Leaf can travel about 600 kilometres on a single battery charge, 50 per cent more than the second-generation Leaf. A 15-minute quick charge will enable it to run more than 250 kilometres, according to the automaker.
Prices have yet to be decided. The remodelled Leaf will be released in the US market this autumn and in Europe next spring.
The Leaf has achieved cumulative global sales of over 700,000 units since the release of the first-generation model in 2010.
Nissan has been struggling with slower automobile sales due to a slump in demand for EVs in North America and a delay in the launch of new hybrid vehicle models. The company aims to turn the situation around through the renewal of the Leaf, its mainstay EV model.
"We would like to create a new standard for Nissan's EVs," Keiji Endo, its chief planning specialist, said of the new Leaf.
[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
