From our colleagues at Business Day:
YOKOHAMA, JAPAN — Overhyped. Fanciful. Just not viable.
Skeptics have been harsh in their appraisal of Nissan’s grand electric car plans — which the automaker will roll out this month with its all-electric Leaf compact — scoffing at everything from the car’s limited driving range to what they consider its overly high price tag.
But Carlos Ghosn, chief executive at Nissan and its sister automaker, Renault, dismisses the scoffing as his rivals’ lack of imagination — and their electric car envy.
“They don’t have one, so it’s not a surprise,” Mr. Ghosn said in an interview here this week at Nissan headquarters. “People who are challenged by innovation are going to fight it in the beginning,” he said. “Get ready to see a lot of converts.”
Mr. Ghosn, whose stint running two global manufacturers has been so admired that the administration of President Barack Obama courted him unsuccessfully last year to overhaul General Motors, is staking his reputation on what he calls the world’s first mass-produced electric car. The Leaf, a hatchback that United States authorities say can run in the range of 73 to 110 miles, or 117 to 177 kilometers, on a fully charged battery, will start selling later this month for $32,780 in selected American markets. It will also go on sale in Japan for ￥3.76 million, before being introduced to European markets next year. Read more here.
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