Nissan is dropping the price of its 2013 Leaf to $28,800 for the newly-added S grade, which can be purchased for as low as $18,800 with the $7,500 tax credit and rebates in various states. It also coincides with Nissan moving production of the Leaf to its Tennessee plant along with US production of the electric vehicle’s lithium ion batteries. Nissan says that the price reductions make it the lowest priced five-passenger electric vehicle sold in the US. “With nearly 50,000 Leafs on the road globally, we are the leaders in zero emissions vehicles and our class-leading product just got better,” said Nissan global sales VP for Leaf Billy Hayes in the company press release. The automaker refers to bringing the Leaf to its Smyrna, Tenn., assembly plant as “a localization initiative that further drives efficiencies by leveraging already-existing equipment and processes while also reducing exposure to fluctuations in foreign currency.”
As for its lithium ion battery pack, that’s being built at an adjacent facility in Smyrna. Its 80-kilowatt AC synchronous electric motor is being built at Nissan’s powertrain plant in Decherd, Tenn.
