Nissan has reduced the price of its Leaf electric car by £1,650 across the range.
As a result, prices now range from £26,345 for the Leaf 40kWh in Acenta trim, rising to £29,345 for the flagship Tekna. These prices include the £3,500 Plug-in Car Grant discount.
Crucially, this puts the entire 40kWh Leaf range within the sub-£30k P11D price point, making it more appealing for company car drivers. From April 2020, there will be a zero percent benefit-in-kind (BIK) tax on electric vehicles.
Nic Verneuil, marketing director of Nissan Motors GB, said: “Nissan is always improving the competitiveness of its vehicles, ensuring customers enjoy a better buying and ownership experience.
“We’ve not only secured additional factory production to make Leaf more accessible, but as a result we’ve also been able to significantly lower the price tag of the car in market.
“If customers are ready to make the switch, they shouldn’t have to wait to get behind the wheel of an electric vehicle.”
Leaf in a fortnight
This is a thinly-veiled reference to the 12 months some customers are forced to wait for their new electric car. Nissan claims the waiting times for a new Leaf are as short as two weeks.
The Nissan Leaf now comes with two rear USB ports, while Tekna models also gain LED fog lights with a cornering function. The lights are optional on N-Connecta versions.
Earlier this year, the Leaf e+ was added to the range. The more expensive model boasts a 62kWh battery to deliver a range of up to 239 miles.
Our Richard Aucock drove the second-generation Nissan Leaf in 2018. You can read his review here. His verdict:
“It could well be the EV that convinces newly-receptive car buyers that electric cars are the way to go. Once you add in low running costs, and retained values that now mirror conventional cars, and Nissan’s feature-packed smartphone app that makes operating one as painless as possible, the advantages over petrol or diesel stretch.
“There are still foibles. Practicality could still be better, for example. The infotainment system is aged, the driving position compromised. But they’re not deal-breaking deterrents. Overall, the new Leaf is an impressive machine that delivers exactly what it needed to do, on time, for a competitive price. The electric car for normal people is here.”