Nissan PH: Leaf still scheduled to make debut in 2020

MANILA: Nissan Philippines, Inc. (NPI) still intends to make the all-electric Leaf available in the Philippines before the end of 2020 – keeping to a schedule it had first revealed last year.

During a press conference attended by a handful of motoring media, Nissan Philippines President NPI President and Managing Director Atsushi Najima replied to a ZIGWHEELS.PH question that the company is still on course to launch the world’s first pure electric vehicle here. The Nissan Leaf recently marked a milestone with the completion of its 500,000^th unit — subsequently purchased by Maria Jansen in Norway (photo below). The Leaf first rolled out in 2010, and is now on its second generation (which debuted in 2017).

One can reasonably expect that Najima would be announcing a more definite schedule during the 2020staging of the annual Philippine Electric Vehicle Summit (now set to happen digitally), which will kick off this Thursday. “Nissan will be participating… with the Nissan Leaf at the forefront of (its) campaign to bring the future of mobility to the Philippines,” reported NPI in a statement. The company confirmed that Najima will be at the summit, and will be joined by Nissan Australia National Manager of Electrification and Mobility Ben Warren. The latter is expected to share the company’s Australian experience in EV adoption.

Najima underscored the need to educate customers and sales personnel ahead of the Leaf’s launch here. “We are learning,” he maintained, and added that the Leaf will be a “different animal” in the company portfolio – entailing special concerns on marketing and servicing.

While Najima acknowledged the dearth of charging stations, he reassured this will not be a problem for future Leaf owners. “Normal driving covers just about 50 kilometers a day,” he said, and noted that the Nissan EV can muster around 300 kilometers on a full charge.

“You don’t have to charge every day,” he said. One might be even able to use the car two to three weeks between charging chores.

When ZIGWHEELS.PH asked about availability, Najima replied, “I want to start with a small number of dealerships since this is new. We need to train sales person and after-sales.”

Nissan Philippines still can't reveal the price point they are looking at, but the company is hoping to get some tax breaks. Najima revealed he had met with Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian to discuss the import duty on electric vehicles. 

Currently, the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) provides for zero excise tax on pure electric vehicles and pickup trucks. Nissan is hoping for additional relief but, Najima confessed that in light of the pandemic, this might be a tough ask.

Catch Nissan's two speakers at the EV summit stage on September 24, at 10 a.m., 11 a.m., and 3 p.m.; and on September 25 at 9:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. Register for free here.

Photos from Nissan

Also read: 3 Nissan 370Z variants now available from P2.779-M