2015 Nissan's Bumper Year In Europe

Nissan enjoyed its best-selling year in Europe for the brand in 2015. They had three big reveals while they continue to pump out vehicles from the Barcelona and Sunderland plants. All the marketing they’ve done in 2015 paid off. Nissan sold 715,623 vehicles last year. This number was bolstered in December with sales for that month reaching 61,823.

If we were to look at the market share for Nissan in Europe, they only command 4 percent. Combined with their low cost, sub-premium brand Datsun, they might hold a little over 4.2 percent. Even with the numbers as low as that, they are the best-selling Japanese brand on the continent – beating out Toyota, Suzuki and every other major Japanese automaking brand.

Significant sales spikes happened in 2015. The Nissan Pulsar sold 50 percent more vehicles in 2015 that they did in 2014. The Nissan X-Trail, a vehicle similar to the Nissan Rogue, the Nissan Juke and the Nissan Qashqai also had significant increases in 2015 over reported numbers from the previous year.

The Nissan LEAF

Even the Nissan LEAF sold more than anything else. The vehicle continues to be the leading vehicle in the EV segment. They sold more than 15,000 vehicles. Nissan expects these numbers to continue to rise in 2016. The 2016 LEAF has a 30kWh capability, giving it an extended range that makes it a much more viable proposition for commuters.

For all the vehicles that Nissan sold in 2015, over 400,000 vehicles came from their Sunderland UK plant alone. That makes this particular manufacturing plant the most productive plant in the whole of the United Kingdom.

As Nissan is enjoying these numbers, they know that their work is far from complete.

Every year, their market share increases. Nissan announced that they had their best year ever when they were reporting the 2014 numbers close to a year ago. Of course, in 2014, they had 12 launches in 12 months. Put in perspective, their market share is no surprise.

What’s interesting to note is that Nissan sold 15,000 LEAFs in 2014 and that number didn’t actually rise in 2015. Either way, the Nissan LEAF is the most popular electric vehicle in the whole of Europe.

Nissan has big plans for 2016. At this point, only time will tell if this year will be better than the last. At the very least, Nissan has high hopes.