Nissan ready to increase Leaf production in Tennessee

With demand up and supply thinning, Nissan plans to practice a bit of Economics 101 by turning the production spigot for the all-electric Leaf clockwise at its Tennessee factory. Nissan is preparing to increase US production of the Leaf after a price cut early this year substantially boosted demand, Reuters says. Additionally, Nissan executive Jose Munoz says the Japanese automaker makes money on each Leaf it sells.

With sales climbing, US Leaf inventory has shrunken considerably, with dealer supply at about 20 days, or about a third of Nissan's typical inventory target. No details were disclosed about how much production would be increased, though Munoz said that increase could start by next month.

In January, Nissan reduced the base price of the Leaf by $6,400 to $28,800, making the model the least-expensive five-seat plug-in vehicle in the country. Through October, US Leaf sales more than doubled from a year earlier to 18,078 vehicles. October sales rose 27 percent from 2012 to 2,002 units. Nissan sold 9,819 Leafs in the US for all of last year. By comparison, sales of the Chevrolet Volt extended-range plug-in through October fell 2.7 percent from a year earlier to 18,782 vehicles.