I dunno, Brian, you might want to grab a second cup of coffee this morning and take another look. The i-MiEV is another one, like the Leaf, that has all sorts of awkward panel bumps and bulges. The headlight and front bumper treatment on the i-MiEV, in particular, has a rather unfortunate duck-billed platypus look to it. The OX, by contrast, seems to have a very smooth exterior, front to tail, and very squared-off look. Perhaps the only similarity I can see between the OX and the i-MiEV is the somewhat pronounced and raised rocker panels.

There is something mind boggling here. If the sole purpose of moving the Leaf production to the UK is lowering the price, then why are they moving to the super expansive labor cost UK rather than the much lower cost of Bulgaria or Poland for instance? Japanese cars are excellent because of the quality of Japanese workers, not only of Japanese engineering. Making them in the UK will change this, that’s a concern. Now if the idea behind building it in the UK is being central in Europe and sell it to the rest of Europe, why not go central in a place like Belgium, Germany or Slovenia, these at least are straight in the middle and already in the Euro zone. The only sense to put it in the UK is to perhaps reuse an old factory they already would have there, but for a new car like the Leaf, everything will be different enough as to justify a new plant, especially if it could be in Greece for ultra cheap.

Anonymous said: "The front and rear of the car look like they were designed by different groups. The rear quarter panels and bumper are especially odd looking. It's only a small tweak that would improve the car's looks immensely. They could also make the glass area on the hatchback larger, like on the Volvo C30 to improve rearward visibility."

Precisely. I've talked to several Leaf owners, who, while generally liking their cars overall very much, are puzzled as to what was on the designer's minds when they drafted the rear deck. The rear fenders are enormous and then they transition into this relatively tiny hatchback door. The rear window is so tiny that you can't see out of it without removing at least one of the rear seat headrests. The "band aid" that was applied was to include a rear view camera, with a screen on the dash, for backing up. A better design back there with a little more glass would makes far more sense.

I've also found the Leaf to be an exceptionally smooth car when putting the pedal down, Bruce N., and I'm equally puzzled by jerky acceleration comments coming from British customers.

And, while I agree with your assessment regarding southern or eastern European factories being the most cost effective, Priusmaniac, I guess I don't understand what's wrong with retrofitting an existing factory to build a new car. Assuming there isn't a leaky roof, the structure is generally sound, that there's enough floor space and big enough doors to haul stuff in and drive finished cars out, what real difference would it make when it was built? The machinery inside will certainly all be new.

"Less Jerky" ? If that means slower, than Nooooo!
I don't consider the Leaf jerky at all. If anything, it's the brakes that are sometimes a bit jerky in the transition from re-gen to disk.

Granted, they may fine tune the map from how far down the pedal is to how much power you get. As long as foot on the floor means 100% power.

Personally, I like to be pulled back against the seat when I press the accelerator.