Dreaming of the Leaf

This once proud centre of UK engineering was due something of a boost after years of degradation.It seems Sunderland is at the cutting edge of technological innovation again.

And we understand that the Leaf will be a new way of driving, but are there hints that the Leaf will introduce a new way of buying too?

A NEW WAY OF BUYING

At the moment, if you want a Leaf, you have to register to go on a waiting list to receive an invitation to make a reservation.

But once you've got beyond the complicated early demand procedures, Nissan promise to keep you up to date via a live chat feature and your own customer support rep.

A COMMITMENT TO INNOVATION

The short of this is that the Leaf is a car for the technologically savvy, the consumer who is willing to do his business online and have faith in that procedure as turning up results. It is also of course a measure of the customer's commitment to electricity as a viable automotive power source in the future.

If that's not enough, from what Nissan's boss in the US is saying, the buyer of the future may have to be willing to compromise her expectations, and move away from the conventional business of speccing up and trimming your choice of car:

WHAT DO YOU NEED?

'We may tell the customer, 'Look you'd be better off buying an Altima or a Sentra, because your driving patterns are not ideal for this car... We want to be transparent. It is fundamental for us to tell the customer what this car can deliver.'

After the age of choice, which has seen manufacturers cover all the ground and fill all the niches, it seems high-end design is going to be rationed to us, centralised, based on appropriacy and honesty.

That's surely a new way of thinking about buying a car.

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