Japan’s auto giant Nissan Motor is officially the owner of the trophy for the “Car of the Year Japan” at the Tokyo Motor Show for its Leaf electric model. According to its makers, this is the first time when an electric car has picked up the award.
This year, the Tokyo Motor Show, which runs till December 11, has been more special due to the latest innovations regarding green technology: vehicles remotely-controlled by smartphones and electric cars with cutting-edge green technology.
“Nissan is proud to announce that its 100 percent electric Leaf car has won the Japan Car of the Year prize,” Japan’s second-largest automaker said in a statement.
For those who don’t know, Nissan Leaf is a zero-emission car equipped with rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. So far, Nissan has sold around 20,000 models, notably in the US and Japan.
The amount invested by Nissan (which is part-owned by France’s Renault) in the development of these electric vehicles reaches 4 billion euros ($5 bn).
Carlos Ghosn, Nissan CEO, expects that his company would sell 1.5 million vehicles during the next five years. He also believes that the market for electric cars would jump from 0.05 percent today, to 15 percent in ten years.
[via Physorg]
