Nissan Places More Emphasis on Leaf EV Sales

The company says all "zero emission vehicle planning and strategy" will now fall under Chief Operating Officer Toshiyuki Shiga's responsibility. EV division corporate vice president Hideaki Watanabe will leave Nissan to become senior vice president at supplier Calsonic Kansei Corp.

Nissan is hoping Leaf demand will surge this year now that it has started US production in Tennessee. Through February, sales were up 13 percent from a year earlier but totaled just 1,303 units. For all of 2012, Leaf sales in the US were less than half the 20,000 units Nissan had earmarked. In fact, Nissan's Francois Bancon, in a recent interview with Reuters, says Leaf demand "isn't where we thought it would be," and that the company was "in a very uncertain phase, and everyone's a bit lost." Nissan in January reduced the price of the 2013 Leaf by $6,400 to a base of $28,800.