The Nissan LEAF has officially been crowned the bestselling all-electric vehicle in Europe for 2018. The 2nd generation LEAF saw orders exceeding 37,000 units throughout Europe over the past 12 months.
To put that into an even more impressive statistic, that equals roughly 1 LEAF sold every 10 minutes last year! The LEAF is now the top selling EV in several countries across Europe. Impressively, in Norway, it was the top selling passenger car overall in 2018 – outselling all other petrol, diesel, hybrid, and electric models entirely. A very promising stat for the future of Electric Vehicles as a whole.
In Ireland, EV sales as a whole have increased massively, making 2018 the best ever year for electric vehicles by some margin. Following the trend of the rest of Europe, the Nissan LEAF is also the best selling EV in Ireland in 2018. In fact, since the first-generation LEAF went on sale in Ireland in 2010, it has been the #1 selling EV in Ireland every single year.
In 2017 there were 257 Nissan LEAFs sold in Ireland. In 2018 that number skyrocketed to 789 units sold, an increase of 207%. Of that impressive number, more than 75% of LEAFs in Ireland were sold by Windsor Nissan dealerships – making Windsor the #1 seller for Electric Vehicles in Ireland in 2018.
A huge part of the increased appeal of the new Nissan LEAF is the extremely attractive design. The sharp & aerodynamic styling of the car, couple with its iconic floating roof and tapered nose, have made it a firm favourite among car fans.
The new LEAF also eschews the look of a “stereotypical” electric vehicle – falling more in line with the aesthetics of “normal cars”. Until you drive it, it’s hard to tell it’s an electric vehicle, making it more appealing to EV-sceptics.
The other big pull of the new LEAF is of course the new 40 kWh lithium-ion battery pack. The new pack gives a range of up to 270km, a 0-100lkmh time of 7.9 seconds, and a top speed of 144kph.
The Nissan LEAF also adds the latest in Nissan Intelligent Mobility technology including the revolutionary e-Pedal, ProPilot and ProPilot Park. Finally, it comes with a 5-star Euro NCAP safety rating.
All of these innovations and achievements have not gone unnoticed, with the LEAF recently being awarded 2 Irish Car of the Year Awards for Green/Efficient Car of the year, and the Innovation Award for the E-Pedal.
