Nissan LEAF Achieves 20,000 UK Sales & 2017 “Best Green Car” Award

Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!

I’ve met quite a few EV drivers in the past year and a half. Invariably, the EV drivers always reflect my contentment, satisfaction, and wonderment with EVs. How is it that not every car on the road is electric? The Nissan LEAF I drive is so sublime and comfortable. How is it that everyone does not drive this EV or something similar?

So, it is no surprise to me that Nissan reports the LEAF has been named “Best Green Car” in the UK’s 2017 Driver Power Survey, as well as “Best Engine and Gearbox” and “Best MPG and Running Costs.”

The survey report results showed up as Nissan LEAF sales in the UK climbed to a 20,000 milestone. As the world’s third largest market for Nissan LEAF, the UK sells around one in four of the LEAFs in Europe.

“Driver Power is the UK’s biggest and most in-depth car satisfaction survey, with seven surveys covering the different phases of vehicle ownership. There are also nine Judging Category awards split into satisfaction categories.”

Editor of Auto Express, Graham Hope points out a 375% increase in the number of “green vehicle owners” this year. Hope commented, “The Nissan LEAF’s results in the 2017 survey indicates that the hard work that the Nissan team has put in developing the vehicle and educating the market about the benefits of Electric Vehicles (EV) has paid off.”

The buyers of the 20,000th Nissan LEAF, the milestone model, were Diane and Chris Ray of Hollesley in Suffolk. The couple took home a range-topping 30kWh LEAF Tekna from local dealer Hammond Nissan. Another LEAF owner will be satisfied indeed. Well, actually … the couple is choosing their second Nissan LEAF – replacing a two-year-old 24kWh model. They simply wanted another LEAF — no other car would do as a replacement.

Diane, who runs a holiday rental business, said: “I love the LEAF. It does everything I want from a car and is beautiful to drive. When the time came to replace mine I didn’t look at anything else. I only wanted another LEAF but this time with the bigger battery.” I can totally relate to that sentiment.

Edward Jones, EV Manager at Nissan Motor (GB) Ltd., said; “The 2017 Driver Power results are a fantastic recognition of the strengths of the Nissan LEAF. What’s really important is these results are based on the honest feedback of the public, so it’s a true indication of the positive ownership experience of living with a LEAF.”

“Hitting the 20,000 sales milestone is further proof that the electric revolution is taking hold here in the UK. We’ve seen more demand for LEAF in the past 12 months than we had in the first 3.5 years of the car being on sale and the number of customers who go on to buy another LEAF is also significantly higher than the industry average. With the new model on the horizon, this growing demand is only set to gain pace.

“At the CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in January 2017, Nissan announced that a new LEAF model will be coming in the near future. The latest version will be equipped with ProPILOT technology, enabling autonomous drive functionality for single-lane highway driving.”

It was 2010 when the Nissan LEAF appeared in UK dealerships. After 4 years, the LEAF reached 10,000 sales. Then it was simply one more year to make 15,000.

“Nissan’s Sunderland plant is responsible for production of the LEAF for UK and Europe. 19,500 models rolled off the production line from April 2016 to end of March 2017 – around 55 a day.”

Neighbors of the UK are also satisfied with the fantastic EV. Nissan LEAF is well loved in much of Europe, including the hottest EV market of all. “Norway is like a lab experiment for electric transport. Crushing the electric car market share of any other country, Norway’s 30% or so EV share has been reached after more or less following the exponential growth trend that you see in theoretical charts.”

Related Stories:


Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Want to advertise? Want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.

Latest CleanTechnica TV Video


Advertisement
 
CleanTechnica uses affiliate links. See our policy here.

Cynthia Shahan

Cynthia Shahan, started writing after previously doing research and publishing work on natural birth practices. Words can be used improperly depending on the culture you are in. (Several unrelated publications) She has a degree in Education, Anthropology, Creative Writing, and was tutored in Art as a young child thanks to her father the Doctor. Pronouns: She/Her

Cynthia Shahan has 947 posts and counting. See all posts by Cynthia Shahan