Long-Range 2018 Nissan LEAF Production Has Begun In Tennessee

The long-range, completely refreshed, 2018 Nissan LEAF is now being produced at the Smyrna Vehicle Assembly Plant in Smyrna, Tennessee, the company has revealed. Current plans call for these first units to be delivered to dealerships in the US beginning next month.

“We’re committed to vehicle electrification and manufacturing in the United States,” commented Jeff Younginer, the vice president of manufacturing at Smyrna Vehicle Assembly Plant, Nissan North America. “With the LEAF’s low starting price and latest suite of Nissan Intelligent Mobility features, we’re excited to ramp up production and bring the LEAF to market next month.”

That last bit is a reference to the fact that the 2018 Nissan LEAF (as well as the 2018 Nissan Rogue) features the company’s new ProPILOT Assist technology as an option — effectively giving owners a system that can handle near fully autonomous single-lane travel on divided highways.

Production of the all-new #LEAF is officially underway in Smyrna, Tennessee. The latest generation of #Nissan's flagship EV will be available at dealerships nationwide in the U.S. starting next month. Find out more: https://t.co/1n8ev6NZ2m pic.twitter.com/fm0poLK9Np

— Nissan Motor (@NissanMotor) December 5, 2017

With there being around 4 years of LEAF production experience at Nissan’s Smyrna facility — comprising the completion of more than 100,000 units — it seems fairly likely that we won’t see any major release delays. Ahem…

And in contrast to the “launch” of GM’s Chevy Bolt EV this time last year, the new 2018 Nissan LEAF will reportedly be available nationwide (all 50 states) from launch — there won’t be any year-long rollout to wait on. The starting price for the model will be $29,990, with that base model featuring a 150 mile real-world range.

The press release provides a bit more: “Nissan Smyrna Vehicle Assembly Plant first began producing vehicles in 1983 and has since delivered more than 12 million new cars to date. The Smyrna facility currently produces 6 models including: Altima, LEAF, Maxima, Pathfinder, Rogue and the INFINITI QX60. It has an annual production capacity of 640,000 vehicles. Nissan Oppama Plant in Yokosuka, Japan, and Nissan Motor Manufacturing Ltd. in Sunderland, England, also manufacture the LEAF for global markets.”

Overall, the 2018 Nissan LEAF will very arguably represent the best value on the market as regards plug-in electric vehicles — with the model being capable of meeting most consumer’s needs while undercutting the Chevy Bolt EV and the Tesla Model 3 on price by a fair margin.

How many next-gen LEAFs will be sold monthly in 2018? This is a big question many of us are eager to discover and hesitant to wager any bets on.