Nissan Leaf wins CoTY 2011 29 | 11 | 2010

MUCH TO many people's surprise, the Nissan Leaf has become the first all-electric car to win the European Car of the Year title. In a tight result, the electric car beat off the Alfa Romeo Giulietta by just nine points.

So controversial was the Leaf that a number of the 59 jurors on the CoTY panel actually placed it in last place of the seven finalists. In the end, the Nissan amassed 257 points to the Alfa's 248. The Vauxhall/Opel Meriva was third with 244 points.

The other finalists finished in the following order: Ford C-Max/Grand C-Max (224pts), Citroën C3/DS3 (175), Volvo S60 and V60 (145) and Dacia Duster (132).

The Leaf, which is currently being built in Japan but will be produced in Sunderland from 2013, arrives in Scottish Nissan dealerships in March next year.

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Jim McGill