Nissan Leaf electric wins Japan car of the year

December 4, 2011

The Nissan Leaf is the first electric car to win "Car of the Year Japan" at the Tokyo Motor Show

Chief operating officer of Japanese automaker Nissan, Toshiyuki Shiga (R), receives the trophy for the "Car of the Year Japan" for Nissan's electric vehicle Leaf at the Tokyo Motor Show.

Japanese motor giant Nissan won Car of the Year Japan at the Tokyo Motor Show on Saturday for its Leaf electric model, its makers said, the first time an electric vehicle has picked up the award.

Electric cars with cutting-edge and vehicles remote-controlled by smartphones have been a star feature at this year's show, which runs till December 11 and features 179 exhibitors from a dozen countries.

"Nissan is proud to announce that its 100 percent electric Leaf has won the Japanese Car of the Year prize," Japan's second-largest automaker said in a statement.

The Nissan Leaf electric is a zero-emission vehicle fitted with rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. Since its launch on the market at the end of last year, some 20,000 models have been sold, notably in Japan and in the US.

"All these accolades show that zero-emission vehicles can clearly be competitive alternatives to conventional ones," Nissan President and CEO Carlos Ghosn said.

Nissan, which is part-owned by France's Renault, has invested some 4 billion euros ($5 bn) in the development of these .

Ghosn said that in five years, Nissan and Renault will have sold 1.5 million of the vehicles, and estimated the world market for electric cars would jump from 0.05 percent today, to 15 percent in ten years.

The hybrid (fuel and electric) would also see an increase from 1 percent today to between 5 and 10 percent over the same period, Ghosn added.

Nissan is trailing several electric concept vehicles at the Motor Show, including the Pivo 3, which can be remotely manoeuvered with a smart phone.

It has installed automotive telematics in the Leaf electric car, allowing drivers to remotely control the air conditioning system and check on a car's battery using their smart phone or personal computer.

Several major foreign manufacturers who skipped the last show are also back this year, including Germany's Volkswagen, BMW, Mercedes and Porsche; French Renault and Peugeot-Citroen and Britain's Jaguar and Land Rover.

(c) 2011 AFP

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Vendicar_Decarian
Dec 04, 2011

Rank: 1.3 / 5 (3)
Meanwhile the American made electrics are going up in flames.
Nerdyguy
Dec 05, 2011

Rank: 3 / 5 (2)
Meanwhile the American made electrics are going up in flames.


Yes sir, keep on hitting that bong wildman!
dschlink
Dec 05, 2011

Rank: not rated yet
VD is talking about the recent reports on the GM Volts post-crash testing.
That said, the Leaf is a much better design than the Volt. GM compromised their way to a vehicle that is of value only to suburbanites that live in single family houses and have short commutes. And have lots of money.
Nerdyguy
Dec 05, 2011

Rank: 5 / 5 (1)
VD is talking about the recent reports on the GM Volts post-crash testing.


Gee, No kidding, really? Thanks for explaining that.

In all seriousness, regardless of what you think his intent was -- and, yes, we all know what his little jab was about -- it's not at all what he said. Rather, it was more of his usual "attack America regardless of the point, whether there's any logic in it or not".

That said, the Leaf is a much better design than the Volt. GM compromised their way to a vehicle that is of value only to suburbanites that live in single family houses and have short commutes. And have lots of money.


Interesting. Not at all what MotorTrend says. Anyway, they have different features and different target markets.

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