Not only is the Nissan LEAF is World Car of the Year for 2011 and a Top Safety Pick from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, it is also selling like hotcakes! Even though the electric vehicle is only available in 7 U.S. states, it has already sold over 4,000 units in 8 months, which is impressive for a vehicle with such new green technology onboard.
Once Nissan ramps up production to its anticipated 150,000 units per year, the LEAF could become even more ubiquitous than the Prius is currently. As they say, the pioneers are the ones with arrows in their backs, and there is no guarantee that innovators in the electric vehicle market such as Toyota, Tesla, or GM will be the ones to enjoy lasting success and profits from bringing new green technologies to market.
+ Nissan
Via Treehugger
Being first is a huge advantage. The experience a manufacturer gets from having hundreds of thousands of a vehicle out in the real world is invaluable. Toyota is on generation 3 of the Prius while the competition is still struggling to match the specs of Gen2.