Electric Nissan Leaf sold out with pre-orders

Seven months before it goes on sale, Nissan has announced that its Leaf electric car is sold out for the first year. The company already has 19,000 pre-orders for the car, with about 13,000 of those orders were in the United States and 6,000 in Japan. Nissan will begin delivering the 100-mile range Leaf in December.

Nissan began taking Leaf deposits for the $32,780 electric car in the United States a month ago from customers who signaled an early purchase intent. Last week, Nissan expanded the pre-order program to anyone in the car's initial markets of Seattle; Oregon; Tennessee; Phoenix and Tucson, Ariz.; and San Diego, and Hawaii. Buyers had to put down a $99 deposit to reserve the car.

The company expects later roll-outs in San Francisco; Washington, D.C.; Houston; Massachusetts; Raleigh, N.C., Sonoma County, Calif.; and Vancouver, Canada. With the first year's production now sold out, those cities may have to wait another year.

The Leaf will initially be produced in Japan, but production will begin in Tennessee in 2012. Nissan broke ground today in Smyrna on a 1.3-million sq.-ft. plant that is expected to be able to produce 200,000 battery packs a year.

—Eric Evarts

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