Icelanders Pre-order Electric Nissan Leaf Car En Masse

The bond between Icelanders and their cars is as akin to that of Italian men and their mothers: indissoluble, reverence-filled and sometimes a little disturbing. But if for Italian men there is only one mamma, Icelanders go by the motto ‘the more, the better.’

Or ‘the beigger the better,’ for that matter.

As pollution levels in Iceland seem to have risen, however, more Icelanders choose to invest in green electric cars.

Brynjar E. Óskarsson, branding manager of BMW, Nissan and Subaru in Iceland, told Vísir that 129 pre-orders have already been placed for the newest electric addition to the Nissan Leaf family. The cars, which will cost around 3,5 million ISK (or 34 thousand USD) won’t be actually placed on the market until April.

A green attitude

According to Icelandic power company Orka Náttúrunnar, by the beginning of 2018 the number of registered electric and semi-electric cars in the country amounted to 4848. Only 4 years ago in 2014 there were only 94 electric cars in Iceland.

The Nissan Leaf model itself is reportedly the most popular electric car in the world. Ten thousand pre-orders have been placed in Europe so far, against 13 thousand in the US. In Iceland, 430 Nissan Leaf cars were sold since 2014, with 135 only during 2017.

It seems indeed that the interest in the green model wasn’t just a passing trend. Instead, it’s here to stay, and with such a green attitude, who can blame it?