Nissan will turn over a new Leaf at a lower price

Nissan, which has seen sales fall this year for its electric Leaf, is planning to do the obvious: lower the price.

Nissan will introduce a cheaper model with fewer features during the mid-2013 model changeover, Automotive News reports.

The Leaf was a breakthrough, the first fully electric modern car from a major maker. It was introduced in December 2010, at the the same time as Chevrolet's electric Volt.

But Leaf sales have fallen 27.7% through the first nine months of the year to 5,212. Volt's increased 319% to 16,348 over the same period, according to Autodata. The reason could be that Volt has a backup gas engine that gives it unlimited range. Making matters worse for Nissan, Leaf production is moving to the U.S., which puts more pressure on the company to sell more of them here.

We suspect Nissan decided to create a lower-contented version in order not to alienate those who have bought the Leaf in the market now, which has a sticker price of more than $36,000 before tax credits. Volt retails with a starting price of $39,995.