Speaking to students and electric vehicle owners at Kansai University in Japan, Ghosn said manufacturing the LEAF in Japan had left the company vulnerable to fluctuating Yen values. With the LEAF now established, Nissan is working towards reducing the manufacturing costs, while offering a range including light commercial vehicles and a city car in collaboration with Alliance partner Renault.

‘I believe this is going to be a very important market for electric cars,’ said Ghosn. ‘We are going to localize the LEAF in China, but it's going to be under a Chinese brand that is managed, by the way, by our company in China. And we want to be in the leadership position in China.

‘When the government has said that they want 2 million electric cars in 2020 in China, we will do everything we can in order to be in the leadership in this important position. This means you can expect to see the new electric cars in Nissan to be localized very soon.’