The car has a longer range than the current Leaf, at 240km up from 172km. A bigger battery to be made available next year will offer more than 480km.
The new Leaf is a little longer and wider than the outgoing car, and will be available with high-level autonomous driving technology. Nissan’s ProPilot autonomous driving system allows the Leaf to drive itself in stop-and-go traffic and in single-lane highway journeys, even around curves. The car will also be able to self-park.
A new accelerate/brake function of the accelerator pedal means that one-pedal driving is possible for 90pc of normal driving needs.
At the launch in Tokyo, the company says it expects the new car to achieve at least twice the annual sales of the first generation model, which totalled 47,000 worldwide last year.
The original Leaf was introduced in 2010, but faces a much more competitive market today with electric cars being offered or imminent from every major manufacturer.
