Nissan Leaf advert banned for misleading consumers

Online ad for all-electric Leaf now banned for its unrealistic recharging times

Nissan Leaf advert banned for misleading consumers
An advertisement for the Nissan Leaf has been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) after complaints that claims made about the all-electric car’s charging times were “misleading”.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned a Nissan advert that highlighted what it called unrealistic recharging times for the popular Leaf.

The regulator said the original online ad, which appeared on Nissan’s UK website, claimed the Leaf could “get up to 80 per cent charge in as little as 40 minutes” when its batteries were being recharged by a rapid charger”.

Three complainants took issue with the claims and contacted the watchdog.

In its assessment, the ASA ruled that the advert was “likely to mislead” potential buyers about the Leaf’s charging capabilities, as it didn’t make it clear enough that factors such as battery temperature could affect the recharging time.

The ASA noted Nissan’s placement of small print that explained the variables at the bottom of the web page but said the footnotes weren’t prominent.

The ASA said: “Consumers who read [the footnotes] were likely to expect that those factors only had a nominal effect on the charging times”.

It concluded that the Nissan Leaf recharging claims were in breach of the watchdog’s marketing material guidelines and instructed Nissan to “ensure that their future advertising made clear the degree of variability in the time that may be required to deliver a certain amount of charge”.

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