Watch our video and discover Zero emission by the Renault-Nissan Alliance.

Davos: it’s shorthand for the World Economic Forum (WEF), the annual gathering of the world’s top politicians, business leaders, intellectuals and thinkers.

The Nissan LEAF is the 2011 European Car of the Year, the first all-electric vehicle to win the award in the 47-year history of the annual competition, and we believe a vindication of the Alliance’s decision to pursue all-electric power as our vision for sustainable mobility.

YOKOHAMA, Japan (Nov. 29, 2010) – In a historic moment for Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. and zero emission vehicles, the 100% electric Nissan LEAF was awarded 2011 European Car of the Year.

Cost has always been one of the major stumbling blocks to bringing electric vehicles to market. The cars are expensive to develop and the battery packs are a complex new technology (at this scale and performance) and currently more expensive to build than traditional internal combustion engines. As a consequence, electric vehicles have either been high-priced niche products or limited production concept vehicles. Our objective has always been for the price of our zero-emission vehicles to be at the same purchase price as a comparable gasoline or diesel engined vehicle.

Great news! The Alliance has two cars, the Nissan Leaf and Dacia Duster, on the shortlist for the 2011 European Car of the Year award.

The shortlist of seven cars has been narrowed down from an initial field of 41 cars and the winner will be announced on November 29.

Good morning, everyone.

Today is a very special day… for all of us at Nissan… for everyone who has eagerly awaited zero-emission mobility… and for society’s hope for a cleaner future.
The launch of Nissan LEAF, the world’s first mass-market, affordable zero-emission vehicle, is a true transportation breakthrough.

The Renault-Nissan Alliance showcased its zero emissions future in dramatic fashion at this year’s Mondial de l’Automobile in Paris.

Andy Palmer, Nissan SVP for Global Planning and Program Management, contrasted this year’s show with that in 2008 and explained how things had changed.

The ambitions of Renault-Nissan to be the world leader in zero emissions have received timely boosts – and this time well away from the Salon d’Auto in Paris.

Leading hire car company Avis has just announced that it has pre-ordered 500 Renault EVs while LeasePLan has signed an agreement with Nissan to offer the LEAF on its fleet in Europe from next year.

The news today (Sept 22) that the city of Amsterdam has become the latest zero-emission partner of the Renault-Nissan Alliance is indeed welcome and further evidence that the Alliance’s holistic approach to a zero-emission future is one that has broad appeal.

We now have worldwide partnership agreements in more than 20 countries and more than 30 cities where the administration is determined to do everything they can to ensure a cleaner, greener future for their citizens without having to sacrifice mobility. The countries include Portugal, Ireland, the US, China and many more.

Amsterdam is being particularly ambitious and has agreed with the Alliance that it wants to register at least 1,000 EV sales by the end of 2011. This will start with the Nissan LEAF from February for fleet customers followed by individual customers from June while Renault Fluence and Kangoo deliveries will start soon after.