Customers who ordered all-electric Nissan Leafs growing impatient

The Bay Area is considered the Leaf's top market.

a four- to seven-month wait California

But the cars are just now beginning to trickle in to local dealerships -- Boardwalk Nissan in Redwood City got four Leafs on Thursday. Some who ordered a Leaf months ago have seen their delivery dates pushed back; others have been told to expect a four- to seven-month wait.

"I've got people chomping at the bit," said one California Nissan dealer who did not want to be identified. "They want their car, and when people started getting e-mails from Nissan saying it would be four to seven months, my phone blew up."

$99 in April to reserve a Leaf

San Jose resident Bob Herrick paid $99 in April to reserve a Leaf and placed an order for the car through Stevens Creek Nissan in Santa Clara in October. He says he was told that 200 people in California, including 14 at the Stevens Creek dealership, would get their cars in mid-December. Nissan itself issued a Dec. 10 press release that said a shipment of cars was "destined for consumer driveways in time for the holidays." But that timeline slipped.

Nissan says Nissan says 19 cars were delivered in December

to customers in the Leaf's five launch markets -- Arizona, California, Tennessee, Oregon and Washington

Nissan says 20,000 people have reserved Leafs,

J.D. Power forecasts that Nissan will ship 25,000 Leafs in 2011, but notes those cars will be shared by three big markets -- Europe, Japan and the United States.

Trisha Jung, chief marketing manager for the Leaf, denied in an interview that deliveries have fallen behind schedule.

source: mercurynews.com