Fleets keen to take on electric cars could face a wait for the new Nissan Leaf next year after Nissan committed to a 50:50 split with the retail market.

The carmakers said it would be able to sell every Leaf allocated to the UK next year to fleet customers, but will not do so.

Deliveries of the Leaf, which will be priced at £23,990 (including the £5,000 subsidy), will begin in March 2011.

Order books are now open, but with the UK allocation in 2011 expected to be just 1,000 or so units, it’s likely some fleets will have to wait until 2012.

A Nissan spokeswoman said: “We probably could have sold all of next year’s allocation to fleet customers, but we wanted to make sure retail customers who wanted to buy the Leaf were able to, so we decided to split equally between fleet and retail.”

Refundable deposits can be placed on Nissan’s customer website and early adopters will be offered a test drive in a Leaf in November.

The Leaf will come in a single specification version, with standard air conditioning, satellite navigation and a rear parking camera. A full charge allows a range of up to 100 miles.

Read the latest Nissan car reviews at the Fleet News car reviews page.

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