It’s been no secret the 2018 Nissan LEAF was destined for Australia and now it’s officially here. Last week MEC and many in the motoring and tech industries were invited to the unveiling of the vehicle in Sydney. As complete disclosure Nissan paid our return airfares and overnight accommodation. The event was held at the Carriageworks in Eveleigh.
There have been three iconic figures associated with the disruption of the auto industry. Elon Musk is the most well known in the west but before him a man called Wan Gang in China was the first to kickstart the EV industry having convinced the powers in China to leapfrog ICE technology, which would have been an insurmountable task, and go straight to EVs. Wan Gang’s story is now only just being told. The third visionary in this field is without doubt Carlos Ghosn, the chairman and CEO of Nissan-Renault-Mitsubishi Alliance, who realised early on that electric power trains were the way of the future. We applaud Carlos for his belief and commitment and being such an effective promoter of EV technology by introducing the hugely successful early model.
It’s reassuring that despite the pathetic lack of vision of our Federal politicians the EV revolution is finally coming to our shores with 2018 being a watershed moment for Australia. A swag of new models have either arrived or will do so over the coming months. The new LEAF together with the Renault Zoe & Kangoo, the Jaguar I-Pace, the Hyundai Ioniq & Kona and the Kia Niro have or will shortly help relieve some of the pent-up demand that has been reflected in surveys of the Australian motoring public. Well done Nissan for again making the commitment to Australia.
This arrival is about ten years overdue. With what the price of petrol is I’m surprised we haven’t had riots in the streets, it’s so welcome to see electric finally making a tiny impact. We need more models and manufacturers represented in Oz. If the price is not right most of us still won’t be able to help restore our planet which we’ve all contributed to in mucking it up. Hope we can convince the Govt. for some reasonable rebates as they’re getting all over the world. Happy elecricking down the road.
Love the Leaf, but i am afraid with the recent events in the company (the arrest of Ghosn) we may not see new cars arriving for a very long period of time. I hope i am wrong, because we’ve waited,indeed, too much for the Leaf to enter our market.
The electric car must become the protagonist of transportation all over the world. It’s insane to continue to pollute cities and population with traditional cars. Let’s at least change vehicles and adopt EV’s instead of gasoline ones.
I imported a 30Kw 2017 LEAF from Japan and it is fantastic! The reason I imported my own car is due to the poor response and service from Nissan Australia! I truly believe they will miss the EV boat in Australia by treating the car buying public as if we are stupid! Don’t understand how they think that releasing an already superseded 40Kw LEAF is great news as a 60Kw Right Hand Drive has already been released in Japan and the UK ! Currently they are being protected by the Australian Government, but maybe the coming election and the introduction of Chinese EV’s will show how arrogant they are! Buy a 40Kw Nissan LEAF for $50K, not likley!
The best thing the Australian prospective EV buying public can do is delay buying a price gouged 40Kw EV (of any brand) until the Global standard 60Kw battery versions are introduced to Australia at a realistic price!