Report: Leaf deliveries delayed until January?

Lance Armstrong took possession of his Nissan Leaf in September, but what's the chance of us commoners becoming owners of the automaker's electric hatch before the New Year? Well, that depends. Did you reserve a Leaf early in the process? Have you finalized your order? Do you live in one of the early roll-out states (California, Washington, Oregon, Arizona or Tennessee)?

Even if you can answer "yes" to each of the questions above, there's still a possibility that the New Year will ring in and you'll be left Leafless. Here's why: Nissan maintains that Leaf deliveries, as promised before, will begin next month. However, a Nissan spokesperson recently told the Nissan-Leaf crew that any published numbers for December deliveries are merely speculative. So, what's Nissan trying to say? To us, it sounds like Nissan may deliver just a handful of Leafs in December, thus fulfilling its promise to launch the electric hatch by year's end, but delivery of your battery-powered ride might be pushed back until 2011. Nissan-Leaf also reached out to dealers and customers and confirmed "that most every car that was promised in December is now showing an estimated time of arrival in January."

[Source: Nissan-Leaf]