In the months leading up to WEF at Davos, there's been a running dialogue about how to characterize the emerging markets. The term BRICs, created by Jim O'Neill, has met expectations and those four engines of growth, particularly China and India, now play major roles in setting the pace of the global economy. So what to call the "next" emerging economies?

Walking through the Congress Center is like flipping through an illustrated history of the modern world. The faces and personalities of those who step in and out of various sessions and meetings are so familiar - and yet unusually 3-dimensional. George Soros shaking hands with throngs of suited Davos visitors; France's President Sarkozy, making his way through the path cleared by his security entourage, after speaking on the need for the IMF to supervize and stabilize economic imbalances. To a first-time visitor, the celebrity and influence of those gathered here are unmatched.

This afternoon, London's Mayor Boris Johnson created a buzz around the Nissan LEAF, as it sat charging at the Hub Pavilion, when he stopped by to ask a few questions.

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.

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.

European journalists have been driving the Nissan LEAF and first reviews are beginning to appear – “a great idea and potentially a great car” was one comment we obviously liked.

One interesting theme emerging from these initial test drives is that journalists are going to have to find new ways to assess electric vehicles.

We have yet to launch them in the showrooms but our electric cars are already winning awards.

The Alliance EVs are the editor’s choice in this year’s Green Awards run by What Car?, the leading UK consumer motoring magazine.

The Editor’s Award is made by magazine chief Steve Fowler who said: “The electric car has come of age – and that’s down to the Renault-Nissan Alliance. While other manufacturers are still making plans and running trials, Renault and Nissan have beaten them to the punch with proper electric cars you’ll actually be able to buy and run by this time next year. You’ll want one, too."

Fowler added that cars such as the Nissan Leaf and Renault Fluence will change people’s perceptions of electric motoring for good.