Nissan executive confirms new Leaf launch

It’s next to impossible to launch a new or refreshed vehicle without people finding out about it. Photographers make a living sitting in trees watching prototypes go back and forth from testing centers. Based on those spy shots, we know that a new Nissan Leaf is coming and what it looks like. But there hasn’t been official confirmation on the timeline as of yet. There’s just a lot of “we expect” or “we predict.”

Speaking on the Car Dealership Guy podcast, Vinay Shahani, Senior Vice President of U.S. Marketing and Sales at Nissan Americans mentioned that they have some products in the pipeline, including the new Nissan Leaf. “We’ve got an all-new Leaf coming this year,” Shahani says, “which I think is a ‘home run’ product.” The quote comes at 42:16.

Shahani acknowledges just before that, “It kills me. It really kills me to see where the brand perception is,” he tells the host. “That’s something I’m determined to change.”

He says that he’s seen the “signs of life” regarding perception getting better, and Nissan is a company that certainly needs that. Upcoming products, like the plug-in hybrid version of the Rogue, should help. The Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV is basically a three-row Rogue, so it makes sense that Nissan would leverage that for its actually PHEV Rogue.

For the Leaf to be competitive, it’ll have to be priced comparably to something like the Chevrolet Equinox (and the upcoming Bolt EV) and offer similar technology and features. It’ll also have to avoid the unknown world of tariffs. Automotive News says that they expect production of the Leaf to shift overseas. We should know soon enough, to make that timeline happen we’ll have to have firm details by late spring.