Nissan LEAF still best-selling electric car in the UK

Although we tend to focus a lot on American sales of electric vehicles like the LEAF, it's also a popular car in Europe and leads the pack in sales in the United Kingdom.

The Nissan LEAF is the world's best-selling electric car. One of its fastest-growing markets is in the United Kingdom, where it has secured market-leader status for about a year. In fact, year-on-year, January 2013 to January 2014, the LEAF has gained sales on the order of 1,000 percent.

For January 2014, several milestones were passed. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) counted 230 new LEAF sales during the month of January 2014, accounting for nearly 75 percent of the total electric vehicle (EV) sales in the United Kingdom for the month. That has been the trend for quite a while, it turns out.

The sales come thanks to an aggressive marketing campaign for the car, the rollout of a large fast-charging network, and the regionalizing of its manufacture to include building the all-electric LEAF in Britain. January also saw the sale of the 100,000th LEAF, to a dentist also living in Britain.

Jim Wright, Managing Director at Nissan Motor GB, said: “Momentum around the Nissan LEAF is growing with each passing month and that trend only looks like continuing.

“When we launched the LEAF we were the first manufacturer to bring an all-electric vehicle to market that was both practical and affordable and the success of the LEAF demonstrates we were right to do so.

“Now other manufacturers are trying to play catch-up by bringing their own electric models to market, but the fact that we’ve kicked-off the new year as the leader of the pack puts us in a great position for the year ahead.”