NISSAN in Norway has hit 1,000 sales of the Nissan LEAF in just six months, taking almost two per cent of the total car market in February this year.
The government support and charging opportunities have helped the LEAF become the second best selling Nissan in Norway and the ninth best selling passenger car overall in February.
Norway has the highest level of support in Europe for electric vehicle purchases with zero VAT, no new car tax, free parking, exemption from some tolls and the use of bus lanes in Oslo.
The existing on-street charging infrastructure currently has approximately 3,500 public charging points in Oslo, many of which are free to use.
Olivier Paturet, General Manager of Zero Emission Strategy at Nissan Europe, was delighted to attend the handover, commenting: ‘We are very happy to see that the ambition of the Norwegian government has matched our own with strong support for the widespread introduction of electric vehicles.
‘The Norwegian package of incentives is unsurpassed and the recharging infrastructure is established and accessible.
‘We can see that Norway is leading the way with its proactive approach to encouraging its citizens to drive electric vehicles and we hope that will continue.’
The 1,000th car handover took place on Wednesday in front of the Ministry of the Environment where the Minister Bård Vegar Solhjell handed over the keys to Nils Haugerud.
Extremely satisfied
Also there was Birger N. Haug, the dealer responsible for selling this car and 550 of the 1,000 sold so far, making him one of the largest volume LEAF dealers worldwide.
All of the sales so far have come from a select group of dealers and Nissan will be expanding that number as Pål Simonsen, Country Manager for Norway explained: ‘LEAF has been a success for us and for the nine dealers that started selling the car last year, so it is a natural step for us to open up for sales from other Nissan dealers as well.
‘We are extremely satisfied with our LEAF sales performance in Norway.’