The new Leaf has 214 horsepower and 261 lb-ft of torque.Mark Richardson/The Globe and Mail
It’s time to vote for the World Car of the Year and I’m casting my ballot for the Nissan Leaf.
I’m one of 98 international jurors for the competition and one of three Canadians. Each year, we nominate vehicles that should be considered for the top awards. They recognize the new vehicles considered to be the best of their class and which truly make an impact on the automotive world.
To be eligible, a vehicle must sell at least 10,000 units in a year, be priced below luxury car levels in their primary markets and be sold in at least two major markets on at least two continents. The vehicles are chosen with no input or requirement from the manufacturers and, initially, there were 58 contenders for the top prize; a round of preliminary voting whittled them down to 10 finalists.
Those final 10 are Audi Q5/A5, BMW iX3, BYD Seal 6 DM-i, Hyundai Ioniq 9, Hyundai Palisade, Kia EV4, Kia EV5, Mercedes-Benz CLA, Nissan Leaf and Toyota RAV4.
There are other contests too, with separate criteria, for World Electric Vehicle, World Luxury Car, World Performance Car and World Urban Car. Those shortlists have five vehicles each and all the categories will be narrowed down to three vehicles each on March 2, to be announced on World Car TV. The winners will be announced at the New York International Auto Show on April 1.
I can only vote for vehicles I’ve actually driven, so that rules out the BYD Seal and the new RAV4. Each car is ranked from zero to 10 in 10 categories, considering exterior and interior design, user interface, driving dynamics and performance, efficiency and build quality as well as technical innovation, market significance and value.
This year, the judging automotive journalists work in 33 countries and each fills in a ballot for every qualified vehicle driven. Voting is anonymous, which removes any potential criticism of bias or chill, but I’ll tell you my choices anyway.
To my mind, the three German cars are too expensive to win the top prize, even if they are among the most affordable in the makers’ line-ups. The two Hyundais are exceptional but too large for most buyers. I can’t speak for the BYD or the Toyota, so that leaves the two Kias and the Nissan.
Ultimately, on my ballot, the Nissan Leaf tipped above the close-contender Kias because of its market significance. The Leaf was one of the first electric cars of this century and it’s always been among the most affordable. It was held back by its outdated CHAdeMO charging system and lagged behind the many driving innovations of the Tesla Model 3, but this all-new, third generation finally gets the formula right.
“The goal is to create a [no-compromise] electric vehicle, allowing ICE (internal combustion engine) customers to shift their lives into an EV world without any regrets,” Nissan’s chief executive officer Ivan Espinosa told World Car jurors in a recent Zoom call. “It’s a product that is well at the centre and accessible to all.”
The new Leaf has two charging ports with the Level 3 NACS and CCS (with an adapter) on the right front fender and Level 2 CCS on the left.Mark Richardson/The Globe and Mail
The most basic Leaf sells for about $48,000 in Canada, plus taxes but before any government rebates. This is several thousand dollars more than the Kia EV4, but the Leaf costs less (with fewer features) in some other parts of the world and it influences other Nissan products in all the world’s markets. That includes the N7 electric sedan and N6 plug-in hybrid sedan that are now built and sold in China through a partnership with Dongfeng Motor Corporation Ltd.
“We will continue developing this technology in China, for China, but also potentially to export, and we will be exporting some products to some markets around the world,” said Espinosa. “We can benefit from our learnings in China to apply this know-how into our newer, future developments outside. The beauty of Nissan is we have this broad footprint and we can learn from not only customers but also from the engineering developments that are happening in the different centres that we have around the world.”
And so the new Leaf benefits from all of Nissan’s international research and development to be a truly World car. Most other manufacturers, including Kia, have similar international programs, but I drove the Leaf and came away impressed. I’m confident it finally has the right formula to be not only an exceptional electric car, but an exceptional car, period, at a realistic price. That’s not easy to achieve and it deserves recognition.
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