Thanks to incentives, the Nissan Leaf 2025 is now the cheapest model regardless of the type of drive, reports CarsDirect, and thus undercuts the petrol-efficient Versa.
The base Nissan Leaf S 2025 starts at $29,280 with destination, but through Sept. 3, it’s eligible for $7,500 NMAC Special APR Cash, which is essentially a rebate customers can get for special financing, CarsDirect explains. The electric hatchback is also eligible for $1,000 in bonus cash.
Nissan Versa (2024)
These incentives help up to $8,500 savingswhereby the effective price of a Leaf S up to $20,780That’s still a bit more than the $19,490 MSRP for the 2024 Nissan Versa S (Nissan hasn’t announced pricing for the 2025 model year) with a continuously variable transmission (CVT), and Nissan also offers an even cheaper Versa S with a manual transmission. Current financing offers still make the Leaf cheaper, though.
According to CarsDirect, Nissan currently offers financing at 3.19% APR on a five-year Leaf loan and 8.37% on the Versa. CarsDirect estimates that with the same loan term, a Versa would cost $23,819 at $399 per month. However, a Leaf would cost $22,509 at $375 per month.
Nissan Leaf (model year 2025)
The $7,500 incentive associated with this financing offer also offsets the fact that the Leaf will no longer be eligible for the federal electric vehicle tax credit for the 2025 model year. That credit – $3,750 for the 2024 Leaf – is also only available to eligible households, so the financing incentive may be more broadly applicable.
This offer has some disadvantages. The Leaf S only achieves 149 miles EPA range (There’s also a more expensive SV Plus model with 210 miles of range available.) The non-Plus version of the Leaf, with a smaller battery, hasn’t been significantly updated in several years, and the Leaf is the only EV that still uses the CHAdeMO fast-charging standard. But for budget-conscious buyers, it’s at least one example of an EV being cheaper than a comparable gasoline car.
