• Detroit Free Press, Wednesday, May 26, 2010 10:09 AM

Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn told attendees at a luncheon at the Detroit Economic Club yesterday that the company has received 13,000 reservations from individual customers for the all-electric Leaf since last month, when it started to take $99 refundable deposits. "We think the Leaf is going to be a big hit," he said.

The Leaf, promoted as the first affordable, mass-market all-electric vehicle to be sold in the U.S., will go on sale here in December at $32,780 ($25,280 after a federal tax credit of as much as $7,500).

The car will roll out in regions -- Washington, Oregon, California, Tennessee and Arizona -- that have charging stations needed for consumers to easily use the vehicle. "We don't want to put the consumer in a situation," Ghosn said, "where he buys the car and he doesn't know how to charge it and he doesn't know how to take care of it."

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