Nissan pledges to fulfill all Leaf pre-orders by end of September

Nissan has pledged that it will fulfill all Leaf pre-orders in the U.S. by the end of September. Brian Carolin, Nissan's senior vice president for sales and marketing for North America, told reporters that production of the Leaf is quickly ramping up, promising:

We're going to make sure that customers get their cars well before the end of summer. I'm confident during April, May you're going to see (a) significant number of deliveries.

Although 20,000 pre-orders have been placed, Carolin notes that only four out of every ten who have plunked down the $99 deposit have been buying the Leaf when the time comes to make a firm commitment. Carolin predicts that "a few hundred" Leafs will be sold in February, followed by "thousands" in March. However, Nissan's VP of sales openly admits that delivery of 20,000 Leafs to U.S. buyers by year's end is unlikely. As Carolin stated:

I think 20,000 will be too high. You just have to make this launch absolutely perfect. It's not a numbers game.

Photos copyright ©2010 Damon Lavrinc / AOL

[Source: The Detroit News]