600 Nissan Leafs Heading to America From Japan, Thanks to Good Timing

For hotly anticipated vehicles like the 2011 Nissan Leaf that comes as not-so-good news. There is some hope, though. A shipment of 600 Leafs did manage to get out of Japan before the quake hit, according to USA Today. The shipment headed toward U.S. shores one day before the 9.0-magnitude earthquake struck. According to Nissan, the Leafs will arrive on schedule.

This comes as good news for some of the 20,000 people who have reserved Leafs. As we’ve reported before, the Leaf supply is running at a mere trickle. Nissan says its still perfecting the production process before cranking out the electric vehicles at a quicker pace.

Through the end of February the automaker has only shipped 173 Leafs. Shipments began in December 2010. The 600-Leaf shipment will effectively triple that current number, not including what has already been sold in March.

As for anymore Nissan Leafs being made after this shipment, the automaker says it is continuing to assess its supplies. Nissan goes on to say that some Nissan GT-Rs and 370Zs as well as some Infiniti models may experience delays of shipments. According to the automaker, the tsunami damaged some of those models at the Port of Hitachi.

Nissan says, right now, that it has sufficient supplies of vehicle stock on the ground in the U.S. region.

Lucky break: 600 Nissan Leafs escaped Japan day before quake (USA Today)