Nissan Leaf vs. Nissan Pulsar C13, which is better to go on sale in Malaysia?

Nissan Leaf and Nissan Pulsar are C-segment hatchback, but the difference is Leaf is electrical-powered vehicle, meanwhile Pulsar is conventional petrol-powered car.

First generation Nissan Leaf ZE0 (Photo courtesy of: paultan.org)

Nissan Leaf was launched with first generation (ZE0) since 2010, it was going on sale in most of the world. Leaf got moderate to successful sales in most of the world such as Japan, USA, Canada, Europe and Oceania. In Malaysia, Nissan Malaysia dealer, Edaran Tan Chong Motor (ETCM) was used to launch Leaf ZE0 in Malaysia around Q4 2013, priced at RM170k during that time. This car was appeared at KLIMS 2013, but poorer sales here due to higher price. Electric vehicle was still not mature yet in Malaysia during the time because electric vehicle charging station infrastructure was not ready yet.

But... Malaysia electric vehicle charging station infrastructure is ready actually now as Petronas had built up more EV charging station at its selected outlets. Now Petronas had 55 charging stations for electric vehicle.

Due to Petronas had already built up 55 EV charging stations in Malaysia, so electric vehicles market is ready and mature in Malaysia.

Nissan Leaf comes to 2nd generation, it is debuted this year. Codenamed ZE1 Leaf is going on sale this year in Japan, China, North America, Europe, this car will be going on sale shortly in South East Asia (including Malaysia), Oceania within 2018-19. According to the report of Kenanga research, Tan Chong Motor also confirmed that Nissan Leaf will be launched in Malaysia likely Q4 2018.

I'm going to talk about Nissan Pulsar versus Nissan Leaf market condition in Malaysia.

Nissan Pulsar C13 for Europe, but discontinued on September 2018 (Singapore was the first South East Asia country to launch EU-spec Pulsar in 2017)

Regarding Nissan Pulsar, now it comes with C13 generation where is mainly for Europe, alongside with conventional looks C12 where is only available in selected Asia territories. Among C12 and C13, Nissan Pulsar is considered failure vehicle in most of the countries such as Europe, Russia, and Oceania due to poor sales. I receive a news today actually, the report states that Nissan Pulsar C13 is officially discontinued in Europe due to production, Nissan Leaf becomes the hatchback model only in Nissan Europe line-up. 

Nice and hot hatchback, but poor sales. That's Nissan Pulsar. After the discontinuation, I don't think Nissan will launch C14 hatchback for Nissan Pulsar replacement in the future as conventional hatchback is denied by today's consumers who highly prefer SUV and hybrid cars nowadays.

Nissan Pulsar C13 discontinuation in Europe, already proofs that this car is denied by Europe consumers because Europeans highly prefer SUV, crossover nowadays, even electric vehicle like Leaf. Although Nissan Pulsar faces poor sales and demand in Europe, but Leaf is very popular in Europe, even the sales of Nissan Leaf is double of Pulsar in UK.

Insight of Nissan Leaf vs. Pulsar sales (Source: https://insideevs.com/nissan-leaf-outsells-pulsar-ice-in-uk-by-2-to-1/)

Coming to South East Asia market, Singapore was used to sell Nissan Pulsar C13 in 2017 for a year by Tan Chong International Pte. Ltd, but this car was withdrawn. While this model briefly says that it is strictly for Europe only, but Singapore was the first ever South East Asia country to launch Nissan Pulsar C13 where was fully imported from Spain.

Nissan Pulsar (regardless C12 and C13) is not on sale in Japan, but smaller Nissan Note is very popular there.

Meanwhile Thailand and Brunei are still selling Nissan Pulsar C12, but Oceania countries such as Australia and New Zealand already discontinued Nissan Pulsar sedan and hatchback since 2017. In Malaysia, we don't get Nissan Pulsar C12 or C13 here as I predict that Malaysia consumers hate hatchback, actually Malaysia consumers are more conservative in terms of buying cars, Malaysians prefer sedan, MPV and SUV where can carry more passengers and provide wider space to put things.

Nissan Pulsar or Nissan Leaf? Which is more suitable to fill Nissan C-segment lineup in Malaysia? 

Second generation Nissan Leaf ZE1

My answer will be Nissan Leaf. This is because Nissan Leaf is electric vehicle, if Nissan Tan Chong locally assembles this car here while EV assembly plant is ready, so Nissan Leaf can get tax exemption like Nissan Serena S-Hybrid as hybrid vehicles and electric vehicles are not taxed with excise duty like CBU conventional cars. The second generation of Nissan Leaf is wider and larger than Nissan Pulsar C13 actually, while electric vehicle charging station infrastructure is ready in Malaysia, I believe Malaysia consumers will prefer buying Leaf as it has nicer design looks. Inversely, if ETCM launches Nissan Pulsar C13 regardless CBU from Spain, or CKD local assembly, the price will be higher and no tax exemption is applied to this car.

If Nissan Pulsar C13 is launched in Malaysia by Tan Chong, I believe the price range will be around RM140k till RM170k, depends on the specifications and where's the car assembled at, so as a consumer, I could prefer buying X-Trail at this price, even go for other models such as Toyota Camry, Peugeot 508, Mazda 6. Not worth to buy Teana price for a Mazda 3 hatchback size car (Nissan Pulsar).

In conclusion, it is more suitable that ETCM launches Nissan Leaf than Nissan Pulsar.

Nissan Pulsar/Tiida C12 (currently on sale in Thailand, Brunei and Taiwan, but withdrawn in Australia and New Zealand in 2017)