Nissan has been having a pretty good ride since it announced the Nissan Leaf and now that customers are actually getting their cars delivered people are on pins and needles to see how livable the cars really are. The success of the Leaf aside, the fact remains that Nissan has succeeded to be the first to mass-market an all-electric car. Yep, this time they beat Ford to it and for their leading edge thinking Fast Company has named them in their “50 Most Innovative Companies” list. The number they were assigned on the list of 50 might surprise you too.

We won’t keep you in suspense, Fast Company named Nissan number four on its list of “50 Most Innovative Companies.” In case you are keeping track that is just behind Facebook and just ahead of discount ruler Groupon. As part of the article Fast Company sat down with Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn and asked him some questions about Nissan, the Leaf and the man in the CEO office. The question that captured our attention asked how Nissan got ahead in the all-electric car race—and this is Ghosn’s answer:

“It was a big decision to go in this direction in 2006. The first reason was we thought we could change the battery. We had technology to invest in. Number two, we had the consciousness that something had to be done about global warming. Number three, oil was becoming an issue -- not only an environmental issue but a political issue. A trade issue. Then, a fourth element was that the Asian markets were exploding. In 10 years, you're not going to have 700 million cars driven every day on the planet; you're going to have 2 billion. If you already have an emissions problem with 700 million cars, what problems are you going to have with 2 billion?”

Hard to believe now that they made the decision to develop a mass-market electric car back in 2006; actually, it might be more amazing that they did it from wiring to wheels and delivered their first customer vehicle last month in San Francisco. No matter how you slice it, Nissan is making history and people are recognizing it. The only thing that would make it better is the ability to produce them faster.

 

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[Source: Fast Company