Though it's possibly the company's most exciting new product, reports from dealerships claim that sales for the 2023 Nissan Ariya will be severely limited in 2023. During a National Automobile Dealers Association event, Nissan told its dealer network to expect several new EV and gasoline models. But according to Automotive News, they were also told not to expect a lot of Ariya units due to high battery material costs.

The Aryia is arguably the most exciting new Nissan product in years, but you wouldn't know it by looking at sales. Nissan only sold 201 units of them in 2022. This is clearly a supply issue though, not a demand problem. "Every dealer was saying how many customers they have waiting or wanting to order one," Nissan Dealer Advisory Board Chairman Tyler Slade said.

Nissan hasn't officially stated how many Ariyas it expects to sell, but an insider source says the Japanese automaker has only allocated around 6,000 units for the 2022 fiscal year, which ends in March 2023. The same source claims around 4,500 of those cars are already built.

If Nissan keeps up that pace through 2023, it would sell around 24,000 units by the end of the year. That number would be well behind the Chevy Bolt and Ford Mustang Mach-E but greater than the number of Hyundai Ioniq 5s and Kia EV6s sold in 2022.

Dealers are reportedly angry over the lack of inventory. "Why can't we produce the Ariya in any acceptable volume?" an anonymous dealer said. "Customers are walking in saying, 'I'm sold, let me buy one.' But we can't tell them when it's coming," they added.

As a reminder, the Ariya was supposed to go on sale in the US back in 2021 but was repeatedly delayed due to chip shortage-related issues. Nissan reportedly knows how much dealers want to start selling the Ariya and asks for patience while the company works through supply chain shortages.