The first all-electric car to win the European Car of the Year is a major coup for Nissan, writes Michael McAleer, Motoring Editor, who is also a member of the competition jury.

Nissan’s LEAF has won the presitgious Car of the Year 2011 title for Europe, becoming the first all-electric car to take the title.

In a surprisingly close race, with some significantly varied voting patterns, it saw off the new Alfa Romeo Giulietta and the Opel Meriva.

Several of the 57 jurors from 23 countries put the Leaf in last place in the final shortlist of seven, although this seems largely due to the fact that the car is not readily available, in their home markets.  There were however, cases where one judge awarded it a maximum 10 points while a colleague from the same country gave it only one.  Each jury member has a total of 25 points they can allocate between the cars, with a maximum of 10 points to be allocated to any one car.

The Leaf’s total was nine points clear of the Alfa Romeo Giulietta (248 points) and 13 clear of the third-placed Vauxhall/Opel Meriva (244).  The remaining finalists were the Ford C-Max/Grand C-Max (224 points), the Citroen C3/DS3 (175), the Volvo S60 and V60 (145) and the Dacia Duster (132).

The seven finalists were selected in October from 41 new models up for the award this year.  Prior to their selection, a number of test events are held where judges pit the cars against rivals in varied tests, including the well-known Elk test at an aerodrome in northern Denmark.  (It was here, several years ago, that the first generation Mercedes A-Class’s tendency to topple over under extreme cornering was spotted during car of the year testing.)

During this year’s testing the Leaf started to win people around, particularly when pitted against regular diesel and petrol rivals and also all-electric rivals such as the Mitsubishi i-Miev and even the upcoming Opel Ampera, which was not a contender in this year’s competition.

The major concerns over the Leaf seem to be about the price and decision to sell the car to the public rather than lease it.  That means the risk that the Leaf’s technology could quicly be outdated lies completely with the buyer. Nevertheless, it’s a major coup by Nissan to win the award against some stiff competition.