Nissan ends production of the Leaf in Europe
- Nissan ended European production of the Leaf (battery electric C-segment sedan) in March 2024. The Leaf has been produced at the British Sunderland site since 2012 with a total of 325,000 units produced there. This accounts for half of the 650,000 units produced worldwide, meaning England, Japan, and the United States.
- The Nissan Leaf was ended in Europe at the same time as the Renault Zoé (battery electric B-segment sedan) in France which was born at the same time, in 2012, these models having then represented the two products of the Renault-Nissan group's major offensive in the market of battery electric cars in Europe. The group then led by Carlos Ghosn was investing in the battery electric car market, which was still embryonic at that time, with the aim of becoming the undisputed leader in this emerging market.
- With hindsight, we are obliged to recognize that this objective was not achieved, undoubtedly because the management of the Renault-Nissan group did not really believe in the development of electric cars and allowed itself to be overwhelmed by the other carmakers, such as German carmakers or Chinese carmakers.
- After the discontinuation of the Renault Zoé and Nissan Leaf, Renault and Nissan must now separately rebuild a range of battery electric cars competitive with the more than 9 million of this type of car sold worldwide by their competitors in 2023.