Nissan Leaf production to hit full capacity by March

By the end of last year, Nissan delivered 19 Leafs to U.S. customers. In addition, the Japanese automaker reportedly handed over keys for its battery-powered hatch to at least 60 buyers abroad. With such a modest amount of deliveries taking place, rumors of Leaf production delays started to fly. Recently, Nissan's chief operating officer, Toshiyuki Shiga, responded to the slow initial roll out, stating:

We want to launch the Leaf entirely free of troubles. We are making the cars a bit slowly while taking thorough care. We might make our customers wait.

But come March, Nissan expects to be pumping out Leafs at full capacity. On Tuesday, Nissan announced that it would add overtime and holiday shifts to ramp up production at its Oppama factory in Japan. With these additional shifts, Nissan anticipates cranking out 4,000 Leafs a month and claims that total production of its electric hatch will hit 10,000 units by the end of March. This increased output should put Nissan back on track to fulfill all pre-orders by the end of summer.

[Source: Reuters]