Small and electric cars – and quarterly results – made up much of the news this week just past. We began with another drive in the Nissan Leaf, which you just may possibly have heard of by now, just ahead of its European launch and learned that the US allocation is already sold out for a year with particular appeal to wealthy west coast ‘early adapters’.

It’s a critical car, the first ‘proper’ all-electric out of the box, and all media eyes will be looking out for the first one to run out of volts in the middle of a British traffic jam. For many, though, the Leaf is going to make a lot of sense and it’ll be interesting to see how it does in real-world use after all the hype. On that, our in-house sage, editor Dave Leggett had this to say this week.

Go deeper with GlobalData

Data Insights

The gold standard of business intelligence.

Find out more

Nissan also showed off an electric city car concept this week and scooter maker Piaggio came up with an intriguing little four-wheel, three-seater that will probably be offered with a hybrid powertrain if it makes production. Even Honda, long a proponent of super efficient combustion engines, hybrids and fuel cells, admitted it was eyeing EVs again.

And battery maker Panasonic took a stake in EV maker Tesla, Audi inked an R&D agreement with a Chinese university and GM’s China unit started production of prototype electric Sails.

Small car news included Ford’s Figo – an updated previous generation European Fiesta – passing the 50,000-unit mark in India; it is also now exported to other developing markets.

Even the sales news from the west wasn’t too bad – October saw the best US SAAR since September 2008, according to Our Man with the Spreadsheet and UK sales are on course to top 2m again.

How well do you really know your competitors?

Access the most comprehensive Company Profiles on the market, powered by GlobalData. Save hours of research. Gain competitive edge.

Company Profile – free sample

Thank you!

Your download email will arrive shortly

Not ready to buy yet? Download a free sample

We are confident about the unique quality of our Company Profiles. However, we want you to make the most beneficial decision for your business, so we offer a free sample that you can download by submitting the below form

By GlobalData
Visit our Privacy Policy for more information about our services, how we may use, process and share your personal data, including information of your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications. Our services are intended for corporate subscribers and you warrant that the email address submitted is your corporate email address.

Finally, General Motors announced its long-awaited IPO – expect lots of news about that in coming weeks.

Have a nice weekend.

Graeme Roberts
Deputy/News Editor
just-auto.com