THE TIME HAS COME FOR THE PLUG

Today is really the time of electric vehicles; Everybody is talking about electric car. LEAF has already sold over 20,000 electric vehicles with lithium ion batteries so, I think today is really the time of electric cars, and they will continue to grow.
January 16, 2012 (Revolucion Eolica con Vehiculos Elecvtricos)

[Andy Palmer, Executive Vice President, Nissan, talking about the LEAF:] "…Nissan has always been a company of innovation… The Nissan LEAF has really rocked our industry. If I go back three or four years, everybody laughed when we talked about bringing a commercial electric car. Now, you look around the show and everybody is talking about electric cars…I think today is really the time of electric cars, and they will continue to grow."

[Andy Palmer, Executive Vice President, Nissan, talking about the LEAF:] "Now, we should not view an electric car as “the” electric car. It’s an alternative powertrain. So in the same way as we talk about diesels, or gasoline cars, or hybrid cars, or plug-in hybrid cars, we have to talk about electric cars. So it follows that there normally should be more than one car that is electric in our range."

click to enlarge

[Andy Palmer, Executive Vice President, Nissan, talking about the LEAF:] "…[T]he second car…is actually a van. It makes perfect sense if you think about it from a very low total-cost of ownership. That car, is maybe a little more expensive than a conventional van, to buy; the payback, considering government incentives, is less than three years for a normal operator. So, for business, which is very much focused on total cost of ownership, that is definitely a good alternative to consider. Then of course, the third car will be an Infiniti. And, the fourth car is a surprise."

[Andy Palmer, Executive Vice President, Nissan, talking about the LEAF:] "…the Pathfinder…[will be] a trend-change in the market from let’s say crossover, more towards SUV-like, and clearly we are somewhere following that trend. But at the same time, we have been able to understand that trend and offer something that is competitive in every way, shape and form…[W]e have been able to reduce the weight of the vehicle and improve the fuel economy by about 25%. The car is bigger. Obviously from a ride-and-handling point of view…it [is] a much more engaging car…I think you are getting an awful lot of good value for money with that vehicle, when we get to announcing the price…I think we have the most competitive car in that particular set."