Nissan Leaf becomes best-selling EV in Europe as new gen gets 37,000 orders, 18,000 deliveries

Nissan is finding a market for the next-gen Leaf in Europe where it has become the best-selling all-electric vehicle with now 18,000 deliveries and 37,000 orders, according to the automaker.

It makes the Leaf a production constrained vehicle – joining the ranks of other EVs that can’t be produced fast enough for consumers, like the Tesla Model 3 and Chevy Bolt EV.

Nissan made the announcement in a press release today:

“More than 18,000 new Nissan LEAF vehicles were registered in Europe between January and June. European customers have now placed more than 37,000 orders for the new LEAF since it first went on sale in October 2017.”

It shows the market in Europe for the new Leaf is way stronger than in the US where the vehicle has accumulated just over 6,000 sales during the first half of the year, which makes it the 5th best-selling vehicles behind all 3 of Tesla’s models and the Chevy Bolt EV.

In Europe, Nissan is starting to get some delivery momentum after having delivered last month almost as many Leafs as they did for the entire year in the US (~6,000).

Gareth Dunsmore, electric vehicle director at Nissan Europe, commented:

“The momentum continues to build for electric cars. The new LEAF has transformed the experience of driving, with technologies like e-Pedal, capable of reducing braking interaction by up to 90%, showing more customers the benefits of electric mobility that Nissan offers.”

The Nissan-Renault Alliance is also dominating in the EV market in Europe since the closest in sales to the Nissan Leaf is the Renault Zoe.

Electrek’s Take

It’s interesting to see so many all-electric vehicles being production constrained as demand significantly exceed the production capacity.

Of course, the Tesla Model 3 has long been limited by its production capacity and it still is to this day even with a capacity of 5,000 per week, but it’s not the only one.

GM could have been selling tons of Bolt EVs in other markets where there are extremely long backlogs, like in Canada or Europe. It now plans to increase production by 20% during the fourth quarter.

And now you have the Leaf which has been delivered to only about half the people who ordered it in Europe.

No one can say that there’s no demand for all-electric vehicles at this point. Its main limitation is output from automakers.