Nissan Teams Up with LeasePlan to Bring Nissan LEAF to Europe
22 September 2010
LeasePlan, a Dutch financial institution specializing in fleet management, and Nissan signed an agreement to cooperate in a European-wide project to launch the electric Nissan LEAF in 2011. LeasePlan is the first leasing company to offer the Nissan LEAF in Europe. The car will be mass-marketed globally from 2012 onwards.
LeasePlan will purchase more than 100 Nissan LEAF electric vehicles from Nissan and will offer them to its customers in thirteen countries in Europe, starting in early 2011 in line with Nissan’s launch plans in those markets. The project will focus on driver behaviour and the operational side of running a fleet of zero-emission battery-powered cars.
The thirteen countries involved in the agreement are Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
The five-seater Nissan LEAF has a range of about 160 km (100 miles - LA4 mode) while a suitable quick charge system can restore up to 80% of its battery power in under 30 minutes. Instantly responsive acceleration is matched by a top speed of more than 140 km/h. Deliveries of the Nissan LEAF begin in Europe in the first quarter of 2011.
LeasePlan operates a fleet of more than 1.3 million vehicles globally.
Nissan is taking an all azimuth approach to spread EVs around worldwide and it will probably succeed with their Leaf and following models.
The Nissan team has global EV Vision. They will certainly have a major market share, specially for the next 5+ years.
Posted by: HarveyD | 22 September 2010 at 10:36 AM