Nissan Motor Co. plans to offer its Leaf electric car in the U.K. starting in February at a price of 23,350 pounds ($33,660) after government incentives are taken into account.
The battery-powered car will be available in Britain, Ireland, Portugal and the Netherlands before sales are expanded across Europe by the end of next year, the Yokohama, Japan-based company said today in a statement. The initial European markets were chosen based on government incentives and infrastructure for electric cars, the company said.
The manufacturer is spending more than $5 billion to develop electric cars to compete with Toyota Motor Corp.’s Prius and Honda Motor Co.’s Insight hybrids. Nissan Chief Executive Officer Carlos Ghosn said last week that he aims to have capacity to build 500,000 electric cars a year by 2012.
Ghosn, who also leads Renault SA, Nissan’s biggest shareholder, predicts that electric cars will represent 10 percent of global car sales by 2020. Consultants including Advanced Automotive Batteries and the Boston Consulting Group have forecast a smaller market share.
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