As I write this, we are four days out from one of the strongest earthquakes in modern history combined with a major tsunami and a great tragedy for the people of Japan. The event continues to unfold with multiple nuclear plants badly damaged, thousands dead and missing and the full impact of the tragedy not yet known. Our hearts go out to the people of Japan and we know that we cannot comprehend the degree of loss and disruption the country is having to absorb.
My wife and I were vacationing on the island of Maui at the time and after seeing the first videos and hearing that Hawaii was under tsunami watch, we decided to evacuate to high ground as soon as possible. We spent the night at an evacuation center high on a hill above Lahaina, sleeping in our car and listening anxiously to the radio as the tsunami waves approached the islands at hundreds of miles per hour. The people of Hawaii and we were lucky that the damage was minor, but airports and roads were closed as ocean water washed debris onto several key roadways. We were surprised and pleased that we were able to make our flights and return to Los Angeles as scheduled on Friday night. The uncertainty, exhaustion and fear that we endured were nothing compared to what the people of Japan are experiencing, but we had a glimpse of the disruption that natural events can cause, and we are humbled.
A Delivery Date
On January 11, I reported that I was thrilled that my LEAF's delivery status of "Pending" had changed to "Month of March 2011". I was disappointed to later be notified that the month was changed to April.
On March 9, I was again thrilled to hear from Nissan that my LEAF will be delivered during the first week of April. I was also notified that I could sign on to my LEAF owners portal and I saw that I have a VIN number. As is common with the LEAF delivery process, we receive frequent updates that bounce around by a few days at a time. In the five days since March 9, I have received three date changes ranging between March 30 and April 8. My current delivery status is "Week of April 5". I'm very happy to have a delivery date in the next few weeks.
While the delivery of something physical like a car pales in comparison to the magnitude of the tragedy in Japan, one can't help but wonder whether the events there have impacted something that one has been focused on for so long. Reports are that all auto factories in Japan have been closed at least temporarily to allow the workers time to be with their families and to adjust. Some factories have sustained damage and some completed Nissan cars were damaged by tsunami waves as they waited for shipping. There was a report today that 600 Nissan LEAF cars were aboard a ship that left Japan one day before the earthquake. I've been told that there is a good chance that our car is either en route or is in the US already. However, deliveries of later batches of LEAFs may be delayed significantly by the events in Japan.
Inexplicable LEAF Delivery Timing
At the start of the LEAF reservation process, Nissan's customer service phone staff said that the order of deliveries would be determined strictly by the order of reservations on April 20, 2010, or later and by geographic region. Later, as online orders were placed, beginning on August 31, the order sequence varied considerably from the reservation sequence, but Nissan continued to say that the reservation sequence would still govern the delivery sequence.
As actual deliveries are taking place and are announced, it is clear that some customers who reserved and ordered their LEAFs later than others are being promised deliveries earlier, leapfrogging ahead of those who reserved and ordered earlier. This has some customers understandably upset.
Members of the MyNissanLeaf forum are keeping a database of details on their orders. Some members are being given delivery dates in April although they placed their reservations a month later than the first reservation opportunity and placed their orders just a month ago, in February. But many other members have delivery dates in May even though they reserved their cars on the first reservation date, April 20, 2010. It is clear that some customers who reserved later are scheduled to receive their cars much sooner.
One possible explanation is that some orders were canceled and Nissan has carefully matched these canceled cars with customers who ordered the same color and equipment later in the process and in the same region. This makes some sense, except that it is clear that some of these orders are jumping ahead of other customers in the same region with the same equipment and color orders. In other cases, there is just no explanation at all.
Nissan did a wonderful job in setting up an online ordering process that put the control in the hands of the customers instead of the dealers. But Nissan has done a very poor job of communicating delivery information, including delivery sequence order and the location of cars in the shipping and delivery process. Other manufacturers have systems that are clear and straightforward in communicating this information to waiting customers.
When dealing with a product as eagerly awaited and in such high demand and short supply as the LEAF, customers expect a fair and clearly communicated process. When limited government rebate monies are involved, the pressure for clear information is intensified. While delays are understandable, communication to waiting customers is key and the perception of fairness in the sequence of the delivery process is essential. Nissan has been silent about the discrepancies in timing. Customers who currently have delivery date estimates of "Month of April", "Month of May", or "Pending" are understandably upset to hear that others who reserved or ordered months later will receive their LEAFs sooner.
See the comments at the MyNissanLEAF forum: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=2666&start=110
An Orphan LEAF on Maui
When a LEAF is delivered to the dealer but the customer declines to take delivery, the dealer gets the LEAF for his new car inventory and is free to sell it. We've come to call this car an "orphan". These orphans are being closely watched to see the prices that dealers are charging for them. While none of us wants to see price gouging from dealers, we also don't want to see customers who didn't reserve a LEAF when the reservation process first began get a LEAF at MSRP or less without waiting for the car. It's a difficult situation.
When we were in Maui last week, I went to the only Nissan dealer on the island to see if they had any LEAFs. I was surprised to see a blue LEAF parked near the charging dock in front of the dealership. The window sticker showed a dealer markup of $5,000 above the sticker price! I was a bit shocked, but when I looked at the prices of the other new cars on the lot, I saw that all of the cars were marked up between $4,000 and $7,000. So this was most likely a case of a single dealer on the island with no competition trying to make extra profit on all of his allocation of cars.
Another LEAF Branch Gathering in Cerritos
Last Saturday morning, the Southern California LEAF Branch had another meeting in Cerritos. The Cerritos Nissan dealer had offered the dealership for a second meeting after the successful February meeting. Unfortunately, a miscommunication caused us to fall back on Plan B, our old reliable Hometown Buffet.
We were not daunted by the change in venue, however, and we had a great gathering. About 16 LEAF enthusiasts attended, including several new attendees. Mallory, Omkar, Sparky and Mike Walsh drove their LEAFs and they were joined by Adrian in the new red LEAF that he had just picked up the day before. I noticed that Adrian offered newcomer Robert a test drive in his brand new car. Really a nice thing to do for a fellow enthusiast.
While red was the predominant color on Saturday, there is no truth to the rumor that this statistical sampling indicates that three out of five of all new LEAFs will be red.
We also had three visitors from an auto manufacturer who had asked to attend to see how a spontaneously formed customer group operates. These gentlemen were from the same company that recently sponsored LEAF and Volt focus groups locally.
It is great to see the group growing and to see more LEAFs at each meeting. The conversations over breakfast were lively and clearly useful to many of the members. Above all, we had a lot of fun.