Chronicle.Live.co.uk: Sales of a flagship electric car made on Tyneside have turned a corner, putting Sunderland workers at the forefront of a vehicle revolution.
The boss behind the Nissan LEAF car has admitted that they got off to a slow start with the car’s European sales as there weren’t enough places to plug them in to charge.
However today, Jean-Pierre Diernaz, Nissan’s electric vehicle director has told the Sunday Sun that they have just enjoyed a record breaking number of sales in September and are now beating other electric car makers.
Mr Diernaz, said: “If you want to reach the mass of volume you need to have a level of infrastructure charges on the ground. When we started we didn’t have enough charges so we now have a safety net of charges across the country which makes the LEAF more attractive.”
“We launched the car at around €400 on a monthly payment but now we are €200 a month. Our car is much more accessible.”
Sales of the Nissan LEAF, which has been made at the plant at Washington,Sunderland, since March 2013, hit 851 sales in September and it is now the best selling all-electric car in the world.
The September figures were a 156% increase on the same month in 2013 and tops the previous record monthly sales which was 630.
Across Europe there are 29, 620 cars on the road as well as 351 charge points in the UK.
All the cars made at the Washington site are sold in Europe and there are other factories in the USA, for American buyers and Japan, which serves the Asian market.
The centre also creates the electric batteries for the cars in a secretive and highly secure plant room, so that this cutting edge technology is shielded from the outside world, and therefore potential competitors.
Jean-Pierre Diernaz, said sales are now picking up and the LEAF has just celebrated its one billionth kilometre on the roads.
He said they have experienced the ‘normal adoption process’ for breakthrough technology such as electric cars.
He said: “It starts by talking to early adopters, which is less than 1.5% of your target group. They back the car because they want a low emission car.”
He also said Government incentives had helped shift sales.
He said: “Overall factors are more positive today than they were in 2011 and we have more expertise to market the car, than we did three years ago.
“We are more expert at explaining and selling the car. Customers now tell all their friends how great their car is so we see a lot of clustering, where one person on a street gets one and others follow.”
Earlier this week the top secret battery plant for the Nissan LEAF was revealed for the first time to journalists.
Protective suits and footwear must be worn by all staff, who must then go for an ‘air-shower’ to make sure no dirt is brought into the production line which is creating the anodes and cathodes that go into a battery pack.
