http://www.autonet.ca/en/2013/07/18/focusing-on-an-ev-price-war Focusing on an EV price war July 18, 2013
[image] Since Nissan cut the base MSRP of it Leaf electric vehicle, the Smyrna, Tenn. assembly plant can't keep up with demand A good, old-fashioned price war may be just what’s needed to give a jolt to the electric vehicle market in North America. First shot was fired last winter when Nissan announced production of a stripped down version of its Leaf electric would begin in Smyrna, Tenn., right next door to the factory that makes its lithium-ion batteries. Until then, all Leaf assembly had been done in Japan. The move cut the base price of a Leaf in Canada from $38,295 to $31,698 (before the provincial rebates available in Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia). This week, Nissan announced the strategy has been so successful the Smyrna factory cannot keep up with demand for the Leaf EV, with its driving range of 117 km. When it finally gets up to peak capacity, Smyrna is capable of building 150,000 vehicles per year, but right now Leaf assembly is running at about 2,200 per month. Hot on the heels of that news came reports that Ford would be dropping the price of its slow-selling Focus Electric by $4,000 when the 2014 models arrive this fall. Focus Electric now sports a Canadian MSRP of $37.692 (before provincial rebates) and has a range of 122 km. And now Chevrolet’s Spark EV is about to arrive on the scene with a range of 132 km and a base U.S. price of $27,495 before federal incentives. For the immediate future, however, Spark EV will be available only in California and Oregon. Meanwhile, Ford this week reported strong sales for both its new C-Max hybrid and C-MAX Energi plug-in hybrid - at the expense, it claims, of Toyota Prius. Ford also said it is expanding electrification engineering jobs by nearly 50% and investing $50 million in electrified vehicle development centres. [© 1995 - 2013 Autonet.ca] For all EVLN posts use: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/template/NamlServlet.jtp?macro=search_page&node=413529&query=evln&sort=date Here are today's archive-only EV posts: EVLN: Ecotality monetized its quick charge network EVLN: I-Miev sold out in the UK EVLN: Spark-Renault building 42 electric Formula E race cars EVLN: Why Everybody Loves Tesla EVLN: Stealthy UPS Delivery Trucks + EVLN: 'Suddenly the EV puts $2,000 in my pocket' {brucedp.150m.com} -- View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/EVLN-A-good-old-fashioned-Plugin-price-war-tp4664398.html Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
