Used Nissan Leafs had biggest residual value drop in March

Is this a what’s-bad-for-the-goose-is-bad-for-the-gander situation? That’s one question to ask after Cars.com reported that, so far this year, the Nissan Leaf electric vehicle may be the worst performing used car in the market, in terms of residual value. New Leafs haven’t been doing so hot this year, either.

Used Nissan Leaf prices fell 9.6 percent during the first quarter. Heck, during March alone, Nissan Leaf prices on average declined 4.4 percent (around $700) to about $15,200. That’s a bigger drop than the Volvo S60 (down 3.6 percent), the BMW 528i (3.5 percent) and the GMC Savana (two percent). Such value decreases are especially notable because used-car prices as a whole rose 1.3 percent through the first three months of the year, with the Volkswagen Routan, Chrysler Town & Country minivan and Lincoln MKZ among the stronger performers.

Through March, sales of new Nissan Leafs dropped 21 percent from a year earlier to almost 4,100 units. Last year, Nissan boosted Leaf sales by 34 percent to almost 19,000 vehicles. It’s worth noting that green-car sales are down this year. In fact, sales of the Chevrolet Volt extended-range plug-in through the end of March plunged 48 percent from a year earlier to almost 1,900 units.

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