Once the best-selling electric vehicle in the world, the Nissan Leaf slowly but steadily became irrelevant due to the likes of Tesla and legacy automakers trying to catch up to Tesla. Not surprising in the least, said irrelevance can be seen in the most recent of sales reports from Nissan.
Over in the United States, the Japanese automaker moved a grand total of 7,152 units last year, down 40.5 percent from 2022. The Leaf improved nearly 30 percent in Canada, though, albeit 2,002 sales are hardly impressive for a country with a population of just around 40 million. As if the poor sales weren't bad enough, Nissan has also issued a recall for Canadian vehicles over a compliance problem.
Transport Canada recall number 2024-068 reads that 11,985 units of the 2018 through 2022 model year Nissan Leaf were produced with a rearview camera wiring harness that could get damaged by vibrations and the movement caused by regular driving conditions. Just like Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 111 in the United States of America, the folks at Transport Canada also require passenger vehicles sold since May 2018 to be fitted with a functioning backup camera as standard.
Emphasis on functioning. In case of a damaged wiring harness, the camera image may not be displayed correctly or not be displayed at all. According to Nissan, the remedy for this recall condition is under development. It's not clear why Nissan cannot use the harness from the 2023 model, which is best described as a very mild facelift.
Whatever the reason for this delay, Nissan will ultimately have to fix the aforementioned number of pre-facelift vehicles. For the time being, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration hasn't mirrored Transport Canada's compliance recall with a campaign of its own. Considering how close the Canadian and American specifications are, chances are that it's only a matter of time.
Photo: Nissan
In production since October 2017 for the 2018 model year, the second-generation Leaf is manufactured in three plants: Smyrna in Tennessee, Sunderland in the United Kingdom, and Oppama in Japan. Exclusively front-wheel drive, the second generation relies on torsion beam-type rear suspension rather than a more refined setup.
Prospective customers are charged 44,580 maple bucks in Canada or 28,140 freedom eagles in the United States for the base grade, which also happens to differ. The Canadian range kicks off with the 40-kWh SV, whereas the North American range starts with the lesser 40-kWh S. Both markets get a larger battery in the form of the SV Plus, with said battery rated at 60 kilowatt hours. On a full charge, its range is estimated at 212 miles or 342 kilometers.
At one point, Nissan was believed to be considering the Leaf's discontinuation without a direct successor. But more recently, dealers were shown a small crossover that promises 25 percent more driving range and exterior design cues inspired by the Chill-Out concept from 2021. What's more, Nissan also gears up for an electric sedan.
The Leaf's replacement is likely to be imported from the United Kingdom. The newcomer is expected to enter series production at Sunderland in either late 2025 or early 2026, making it a 2026 model.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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