Nissan plans to sell cheaper Leaf: FT

Japanese carmaker Nissan <7201.T> plans to offer a lower-priced version of its Leaf electric car, which has been selling well below the company's predictions, the Financial Times reported on Monday.

Nissan sold fewer than 12,000 Leafs in the first half of this fiscal year, up 11 percent on last year, but falling well short of its goal of selling 40,000 of the cars for the full year, the FT said.

"The main hesitation in buying the car is from range anxiety. Maybe we were over optimistic with the ramp-up as well," Nissan executive vice-president, Andy Palmer, was quoted as saying in the FT.

Nissan's move comes against a backdrop of disappointing early sales for plug-in cars, despite billions of dollars of loans, grants and consumer subsidies offered by governments in recent years.

(Reporting by Stephen Mangan; Editing by Richard Pullin)