5 ms·
6500 sales is actually pretty significant. By way of comparison the Nissan Leaf (which is much cheaper) has only sold 7217 cars in North America since launching
by rsuttongee 15y ago
6500 sales is actually pretty significant. By way of comparison the Nissan Leaf (which is much cheaper) has only sold 7217 cars in North America since launching in Dec 2010.
To be fair though, Nissan originally had 17,000 pre-orders but had trouble filling them due to production issues. It remains to be seen if Tesla can actually deliver their first run, but let's hope that Tesla is able to get some magic done in that NUMMI plant.
- hop 15y agoSaw a leaf for the fist time up close yesterday. Damn it's ugly. They could really murder sales with a Deiter Rams/Johnny Ive aesthetic design instead of this fake space age plastic crap they cover the car with.
- vinhboy 15y agoI can never understand why car companies put out such ugly cars. Is there such a huge price difference between making a decent looking car and an ugly car that they have sacrifice design? Or does someone at nissan actually thinks it looks "space age".
- malloreon 15y agoI don't have the research on hand, but it's generally accepted that the reason the Prius was so successful as a hybrid was because it LOOKED very different than other hybrids, so people who bought one could conspicuously show off that they were hybrid drivers before it was cool. Models like the Honda Hybrid Accord and Civic didn't do nearly as well because aside from the badge and carpool sticker, they didn't scream "I'M A HYBRID LOOK AT ME SAVING THE WORLD" My hunch is that the Leaf was an attempt to capture some of that "conspicuous hybridization" momentum. Agreed, though, it's an ugly car.
- Roboprog 15y agoThe Prius is shaped like an upside down boat hull. It's a shape that offers little drag through a fluid. I find the Prius OK, not beautiful, but not ugly either. Don't have one yet, but would likely consider one as a practical replacement vehicle.
- rsuttongee 15y agoYeah, they made a really strange decision with the way the headlights pop up 4 inches or so above the hood. I recall hearing somewhere that Nissan did for aerodynamic reasons to make sure the slipstream goes over the side-view mirrors, but boy does it look ugly. As an engineer, I usually never find myself arguing in favor of aesthetics over effectiveness, but in this case even I think they should have done something different. That said, I'm not a car designer, so there might be other factors going on there.
- tomkarlo 15y agoYeah, I believe the issue was that the car is so quiet that at highway speeds, the noise generated from hitting the side mirrors was annoying. So they shaped the front of the car to mitigate that issue. I've driven one a few times. It's ugly, but not more ugly than a lot of other econo-cars like the Fuse. I'm tall and it's fairly comfortable inside, and it performs fine. If I was still a daily driving commuter and still had two cars in the household, I'd definitely be interested in the Leaf because it would save me $250 in gas a month and let me drive in the carpool lane.
- callmeed 15y agoSo true. There was one in my office parking lot not too long ago. http://wheelspotting.com/wheels/nissan-leaf-is-ugly http://wheelspotting.com/wheels/nissan-leaf-is-ugly
- randallsquared 15y agoI kinda like the way it looks, but mostly because it looks different. Some of these designs that most people think are ugly at first tend to grow on you, like the Nissan cube.