Base model 3 or new Nissan Leaf plus. The choice is clear.
Copy and paste from electrtek
The Nissan Leaf Plus starts at $36,550
Nissan has just announced pricing for their upcoming
62kWh Leaf Plus model, which will be available in the US starting later this month.
The starting price comes in just around the expected level, at $36,550. The Leaf SV Plus will be $38,510, and the top trim, the Leaf SL Plus, is priced at $42,550.
Nissan's price announcement is not unexpected, as stated in our
first drive review we expected it to be very close to the starting price of the Chevy Bolt. Nissan came in even closer than we expected, though - the Leaf starts at just $70 less than the Bolt does.
Comparing to other trims, the Bolt "Premier" is $41,895, so the Leaf SL Plus is a little more expensive than that, though the available options don't exactly compare. Essentially, these two cars are about the same price through the various option levels.
Electrek's Take
We knew this news had to come soon - the car is hitting dealerships this month after all, and we just drove it last week.
But one can't help but think that this announcement could have been affected by yesterday's news of the
standard Model 3 being available for $35k.
At our test drive event, Nissan shared a slide showing their competition:
They clearly considered the Bolt, Kona and Model 3 as the direct competition for the Nissan Leaf Plus, and have priced it accordingly.
But that slide is now outdated - while the Model 3 used to start at $42k, it now starts at $35k, and that base model should be available at the end of this month, around the same time as the Leaf Plus.
While we enjoyed driving the Leaf Plus and found it a great daily driver and a very comfortable car, we also
love the Model 3. We have yet to drive (or even see) the interior of the standard Model 3, or the "partial premium" interior available for $37k (still in the realm of Leaf Plus/Bolt pricing), but it's hard to imagine it will be bad enough to make the Model 3 less exciting. And given that the range of 220 miles fits into the same category as the Leaf Plus, there will certainly be people cross-shopping the Leaf Plus against the Model 3.
The saving grace for Nissan is that they still have a larger tax credit available than Tesla does, and Chevy will be running out of theirs soon as well. So the Nissan will remain less expensive for at least the first ~70k units in the US.
This story is still developing, come back in a few for more analysis.