The Nissan Leaf had a record-breaking year in 2013 in Europe, with a total of 11,120 sales, 5,600 more (+204 percent) than in 2012. Nissan says the Leaf is the EV market leader in Europe with 25 percent more sales than the next best-selling battery-powered model.

Thanks to the Leaf, Nissan has a European EV market share of 33 percent, but in some countries, the share is even bigger. In Norway, the Leaf was the third best-selling passenger car overall last year, and the trend seems to continue this year: at the end of January 2014, the Leaf became Norway’s top-seller with 650 units.

Nissan says sales of Nissan’s electric vehicle aren’t far behind in the rest of Europe. In 2013, the Leaf was the EV market leader in countries like Spain, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Belgium, and the United Kingdom.

In the United Kingdom, where the European version of the Leaf is built, sales rose by more than 1,000 percent in January versus the previous year. In France, Leaf sales rose 240 percent in January as well, with the Nissan becoming the EV market leader for the first time.

“January has been a fantastic start to 2014, a year when we will launch our second 100 percent electric model in Europe – the Nissan e-NV200 light commercial vehicle,” said Jean-Pierre Diernaz, Director of Electric Vehicles, Nissan Europe.

Nissan has sold over 100,000 Leaf EVs globally since the car launched in December 2010.

By Dan Mihalascu

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