Nissan recently announced that the LEAF has become the best selling electric vehicle of all time as it surpassed 400,000 sales. And the Nissan LEAF will start selling in more than a dozen new markets this year.
The Nissan LEAF launched in 2010 and it was the world’s first mass-market electric vehicle. So customers of the LEAF were considered “early adopters.” And now a growing number of consumers have said that their next car may be electric. One of the most popular features built into the LEAF includes ProPILOT Assist semiautonomous driving system. The ProPILOT Assist maintains speed and lane position while reducing driver fatigue.
“This milestone is a powerful statement that 400,000 customers, and counting, value the Nissan LEAF for the excitement, confidence and connection it delivers,” said Nissan EVP Daniele Schillaci — who is responsible for all of the corporation’s brands. “The LEAF remains the icon of Nissan Intelligent Mobility, our strategy for moving more people to a better world.”
While building the LEAF, Nissan committed itself to support the adoption of electric vehicles and worked with governments and utility companies to make charging the vehicles easier and more convenient. And Nissan committed to developing second-life uses for electric car batteries.
Nissan also set up partnerships around the world through the Nissan Energy initiative. These partnerships will leverage the ability of electric car batteries to store energy and share it with homes, businesses, and power grids. This makes electric vehicles even more useful and it promotes efficient energy use.
So far, LEAF owners have driven their cars more than 10 billion kilometers in total. And the number of LEAF vehicles sold since 2010 is enough to save 3.8 million barrels of oil a year.
In 2018, the LEAF was the best selling electric vehicle in Europe and was the top-selling car of all kinds in Norway. Currently, the Nissan LEAF is available in more than 50 markets globally and it is going for sale in six new markets in Latin America in the first half of this year and seven in Asia and Oceania by the end of the year.
Recently, Nissan introduced a new model with a new powertrain called the Nissan LEAF PLUS — which offers increased power and up to 226 miles of range. The sales of the LEAF PLUS started in late January in Japan. And U.S. sales are going to begin this spring and Europe will start shortly after.