Nissan celebrates production of the 500,000th Leaf

If you didn’t know, September 9 marks the inaugural World EV Day, which is a global movement meant to celebrate e-mobility in all forms. In a spot of good timing, Nissan is commemorating the special day by announcing the production of the 500,000th Leaf.

The milestone was achieved at the carmaker’s plant in Sunderland, England, almost a decade after the first-generation Leaf went on sale in December 2010. Since then, the Leaf has received numerous updates and entered its second generation model in 2017, which is offered in Malaysia as well. With humble performance, good usability and being rather affordable, the Leaf has remained as the world’s best-selling EV for a number of years now.

The happy owner of the 500,000th Leaf is Maria Jansen from Norway, who said, “my husband and I chose to buy a Nissan LEAF back in 2018, and we loved it. We’re very excited to become the proud owners of the 500,000th Nissan Leaf. This car really meets our needs with extended range and enhanced technologies.”

According to Nissan, Leaf owners have driven more than 14.8 billion clean-air kilometres since 2010 and have helped to prevent more than 2.4 billion kg of CO2 emissions. It adds that with recent lockdowns in various countries due to the pandemic, air quality has improved around the world due to a decrease in CO2-emitting activities.

With cleaner air, studies show that 68% of people in Europe support measures to prevent a return to previous levels of air pollution. “Consumers have seen what cleaner air and reduced noise pollution feel like during lockdowns. Now more than ever, they’re looking to take positive steps towards a more sustainable future and the Nissan Leaf contributes to this efforts,” said Helen Perry, head of electric passenger cars and infrastructure at Nissan Europe.