Leafis the No. 1 (From Basingstoke Gazette)

Leafis the No. 1

3:46pm Friday 3rd December 2010 in Cars

NISSAN’S Leaf has become the first allelectric car to win the coveted Car of the Year (COTY) title, after one of the most diverse voting processes in the award’s history in which some judges voted it last.

Nissan’s revolutionary Leaf, on sale in Europe from the beginning of next year, is scheduled to be built in Britain at Nissan’s Sunderland plant from 2013.

Just 24 UK dealers will be supplying the all-electric Nissan Leaf, when deliveries start in March, and they include West Way Nissan in Southampton and Westover Nissan in Bournemouth.

The outlets will be fully equipped to sell and service the Nissan Leaf from February. The dealers have been chosen to give the best regional coverage for Nissan Leaf customers and for their commitment to customer service.

All 24 Nissan EV dealers will have a fast charge facility which will allow EV customers to charge their Leaf up to 80 per cent capacity in 30 minutes.

This network of fast chargers will mean that over 90 per cent of the UK population are no more than 50 miles from a fast charger.

The Japanese hatchback scored 257 points, despite splitting opinion Strictly style to the point where several jurors placed it in last place.

Its total was nine points clear of the Alfa Romeo Giulietta (248 points) and 13 clear of the third-placed Vauxhall/Opel Meriva (244).

The remaining finalists were the Ford C-Max/Grand C-Max (224 points), the Citroen C3/DS3 (175), the Volvo S60 and V60 (145) and the Dacia Duster (132).

The awards are voted for by 59 jury members in 23 countries.

Autocar’s Steve Cropley is one of the six British voters; he placed the Leaf at the top of his list.

“The Nissan Leaf was my own winner this year,” said Steve, “so I’m delighted to see it win. It does more than any rival to ‘normalise’ electric cars.

“I’m disappointed for the Dacia Duster, my number two, though. I know it does relatively little to further the art of the motor car, but it does offer a lot of style and utility for amazingly little money.

“It undercuts SUVs like the VW Tiguan and Ford Kuga by up to £10,000: an amazing achievement. Still, it’s good to see the Alfa Giulietta, the best car from them for many years, to be so well supported.”

The judges’ objective is to choose the most outstanding new car to go on sale in the past 12 months. Jurors vote twice: first to select a shortlist of seven from the new cars launched in Europe, then again to choose the winner.

■ For more information about the Nissan Leaf see Wheels in today's Daily Echo