Nissan wins ‘Greenest Manufacturer of the Year’ Award
Nissan has been awarded Green-Car-Guide’s Greenest Manufacturer of the Year Award for showing real commitment and leadership with the launch of the all-electric Nissan LEAF.
Green-Car-Guide.com presents its Greenest Manufacturer Award every year with the aim of recognising manufacturers that have made a special contribution by offering motorists more efficient, lower carbon vehicles – as long as they are also great to drive.
This is the fourth year of the award, and each year there is stiffer competition, as all manufacturers are making increasing efforts to lower the emissions of their models. However Nissan has gone beyond incremental improvements and has created a step-change with the launch of the all-electric LEAF.
Introducing an electric car in itself would not necessarily qualify Nissan to win the award, but the LEAF is also excellent to drive, well designed, and practical for a family. As well as its environmental credentials, it is also much cheaper to run than a conventional petrol or diesel car. Petrol and diesel prices are expected to continue to rise due to increasing global demand and dwindling oil supplies, therefore the LEAF is likely to become even more of an attractive proposition.
Paul Willcox, Managing Director of Nissan Motor (GB) Limited said: “Nissan is delighted to win the Greenest Manufacturer of the Year Award from Green-Car-Guide.com. The Nissan LEAF is pioneering the electric car revolution in the UK and this award is further acknowledgement of our vision of sustainable mobility. We are also continuing with our efforts to reduce emissions in our petrol and diesel powered cars and this can be seen with the latest edition to the Micra range, the 1.2-litre DIG-S, which produces just 95 g/km of CO2.”
Green-Car-Guide.com founder and editor Paul Clarke says: “Nissan has shown real leadership by launching the world’s first all-electric family hatchback. However, not only has the company brought the vehicle to market, the LEAF is also an excellent car to drive. It makes particular sense in urban areas, especially London, where there are real air quality issues, and where daily driving distances are generally well within the range of an electric vehicle. Green-Car-Guide.com is pleased to acknowledge Nissan as a pioneer in bringing quality zero emission vehicles to market on a significant scale.”
However it’s not only cities such as London where the LEAF can be used. Green-Car-Guide.com recommended the LEAF and helped to secure one of the first examples in the UK as a community electric vehicle for the Ashton Hayes ‘Going Carbon Neutral’ project. This small Cheshire village is aiming to be the first community in the UK to go carbon neutral, and the electric LEAF is playing an important role in the plan.
The LEAF can be used by any driver over the age of 18 in Ashton Hayes, providing zero-emission transport. The hope is that this may also enable some residents to avoid running a second car, which in some cases may currently be a vehicle with relatively high emissions.
The Ashton Hayes LEAF has its own garage with a solar-panelled roof, which helps to supplement the renewable-tariff electricity that powers the charge point. Although the LEAF has zero tailpipe emissions, this recharging system ensures that the electricity to charge the car is also zero emission.
You can see the Nissan LEAF, as well as the racing LEAF NISMO RC, the new 95 g/km CO2 Micra DIG-S, and witness the incredible, heart-stopping spectacle of the Juke driving around a race track on two wheels, at Green-Car-Guide Live! at the Cholmondeley Pageant of Power, 15-17 July 2011, in Cheshire. For more information visit Green-Car-Guide.com or cpop.co.uk.
