#The Nissan Leaf Isn’t Going Anywhere Because Now It’s Truly Affordable – Review Geek

The Nissan Leaf has long been Nissan’s only electric vehicle available in the United States, but that’s about to change. In fact, the Leaf EV arrived over 11 years ago, and it took Nissan that long to release a second model, the Nissan Ariya. And no, the Nissan Leaf isn’t going anywhere, at least not yet.

When Nissan unveiled Ariya’s pricing with select models costing around $40,000, it led many to believe Nissan would replace the Leaf with the Ariya. After finally releasing a new EV all this time later, with a similar price, maybe they would phase out the Leaf.

However, thanks to huge Nissan Leaf price cuts back in 2021, the Leaf is now one of the most affordable electric vehicles in the United States, especially with the tax credit, showing that the Leaf and Ariya can indeed coexist.

In fact, with how truly affordable the Leaf is, it would be wise to keep it around, not replace it. According to Green Car Reports, Nissan’s U.S. director of EV marketing and sales strategy, Aditya Jairaj, had this to say on the matter:

“When we’ve got both cars on the market, there will be a specific spot for each model. For example, the model year 2022 Leaf, we repositioned the Leaf; the place in our lineup shifted a little bit.”

To be clear, Jairaj is talking about the more than $4,000 price cut to the 2022 Nissan Leaf announced last year, putting the vehicle around $28k before incentives. So now, if a buyer can take advantage of the federal EV tax credit, a standard Nissan Leaf could cost $20,875 instead of $28,375. Even higher trim models, including the Leaf Plus, drop to $25k after credits.

The point here is that the 2022 Nissan Leaf is one of the most affordable EV options in the United States and well-positioned. Given the prices above, the new Nissan Ariya’s $40k starting price tag puts it into a different category entirely, even if the tax credit can lower it to $33,500.

Both of Nissan’s electric vehicles are affordable compared to a Tesla Model S, and both are here to stay. At least for now.

via InsideEvs