8:31 am, July 23, 2013
THE Renault-Nissan Alliance has revealed it has sold its 100,000th electric car.
It means the company has sold more EV cars than all other major car makers combined.
The 100,000th customer was American graduate student Allison Howard, who became an owner of Nissan Leaf earlier this month and drives the car to Kennesaw State University in Atlanta, Georgia.
‘It just drives perfectly. It’s so cool. I love it!’ said Howard. ‘The fact that it’s all electric and I don’t have to spend money on gas as a college student, that’s great.’
The top markets for Nissan Leaf are the United States with about 30,000 units, Japan with 28,000 units, and Europe with 12,000 units. Meanwhile sister brand Renault has sold about 30,000 electric vehicles since its first model, Kangoo Van Z.E., went on sale in late 2011.
Renault leads the electric vehicle market in Europe with a 61 per cent share, including Twizy. Renault’s top markets in Europe are France, Germany and Italy.
‘The age of the mainstream zero-emission vehicle is here,’ said Renault-Nissan Alliance chairman and CEO Carlos Ghosn. ‘We expect demand to keep growing as the charging infrastructure develops – and we remain 100 per cent committed to zero-emission technology for the long term.’
