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Electric cars were previously considered to be ostentatious and only for the affluent population. Thanks to Nissan there are cheaper and more affordable options out there. Instead of buying the higher tier electric cars such as Tesla, which are only available to the rich, there is hope for middle-income consumers to afford an Electric car such as the Nissan Leaf. This ability of a lower social group to afford a product once consumed by the high-end consumers is called disruptive innovation. As a result of the larger proportion of people in the target market, Nissan managed to outsell Tesla, by acquiring a competitive advantage from low costs. The article, “Ignore the Tesla hype: the Nissan Leaf is your best bet,” published on 17/10/2014 by Jeremy Cato explains how Nissan edges out Tesla and why it’s the better option. [1]
I personally think that disruptive innovators are the future of business. With the world having limited resources, companies could allocate their existing resources with “disruptive” purposes. This implies that most people would benefit from this fair allocation where not only the rich are having the greater proportions of the available resources. This will make the world more sustainable. Companies such as Nissan leaf should be protected more than Tesla with governmental subsidies and reduced taxes because their cheaper products will enable more people to utilize them and thus reduce the pollution rate much more than the people who own Tesla electric cars. This will not only benefit the country environmentally but also socially where the gap between the rich and poor would decrease. With the Tesla costing around $75000 and the Nissan Leaf at $35000, even if there were subsidies by the government for Tesla electric cars, they would still be inaccessible for middle-income earners. It is yet to be seen whether Tesla’s Giga-factory will enable them to manufacture products at the price range of Nissan Leaf in order to regain their competitive advantage.
In conclusion, even though Tesla earns higher praises over its design, speed, elegance, comfort and performance than Nissan Leaf ever would. I agree with Jeremy Cato’s title in his article that, “Nissan is the best bet,” simply because of affordability. Therefore more people can buy it, in turn has a more effective global footprint.
Bibliography
[1]
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-drive/news/industry-news/ignore-the-tesla-hype-the-nissan-leaf-is-your-best-bet/article21132936/
Website Title: The Globe and Mail
Article Title: Ignore the Tesla hype: the Nissan Leaf is your best bet
Date Accessed: October 27, 2014
Author: Jeremy Cato