The process of developing the Nissan Leaf was presented in the form of the Nissan Altra in 1997. The Altra EV was produced for four years, time in which only 200 vehicles were produced and their main customer was companies that needed fleet vehicles such as electric utilities.
After the Altra, the Hypermini was another vehicle produced by Nissan. It was sold only to government agencies.
After that in 2009, the EV 11 was the first prototype created by Nissan based on the Nissan Versa.
It featured a all electric drive train and it had a 100 miles range. After its successful test marketing the Nissan EV 11 started to be produced and sold as the Nissan Leaf.
On the introductory stage, the Nissan Leaf had a hard time coming to become a success. In the first two years sales of the Nissan Leaf barely topped 50.000 units sold. The years to come, due to aggressive marketing and strategic partnerships, the Nissan Leaf started to reach is growth stage. The car is now in its maturity and the idea of the electric car and the Nissan Leaf is very closely related.