Nissan LEAF World Car of the Year 2011

In another astonishing case of worshipping at the alter of false hope, the World Car of the Year has been awarded to the Nissan LEAF. Just as the European Car of the Year Award was.

Why do judges on COTY Award panels persist in considering a car like the Nissan LEAF for such awards? How can it be, when it does everything less well than an ICE car, that it even gets a look in?

We can only assume that the judges on these panels are trying to polish their own green halos. By any rational measure of a car’s ability there is not one single thing we can think of that makes the Nissan LEAF stand out.

It costs far, far more than any comparable ICE car, even though it is probably being sold at a loss and subsidised by the taxpayer. It can, realistically, take you no more than 40 miles from home before you have to turn round and come back. Less if you use the heater or the AirCon or the heated screen or the lights or…

Supporters would argue that the electricity is much cheaper than petrol or diesel. True, but only because of taxation. But ignore that for a moment and assume electricity is completely free. Even then, with the LEAF probably costing £10k more than a comparable ICE car, you could pay for 85,000 miles of fuel with the savings you’d make on the subsidised purchase price.

But perhaps if we look at the guy who presented the World Car of the Year Award to Nissan, we get a bit of an insight on the panel.

His name is Peter Lyons and he is “Co-Chair” (the title speaks for itself) of the World Car Awards. And he got all dressed up in his best bib and tucker to present the awards. And then finished off his ensemble with a pair of brown suede trainers.

Which if the “Co-Chair” can’t tell the difference between proper shoes and brown suede trainers, how on earth can we expect the WCOTY panel to tell the difference between a Nissan LEAF and a real car?

But there you have it. Despite the Nissan LEAF being inferior in every way to a conventional ICE car, it still wins World Car of the Year 2011. What makes it worse is that it beat the BMW 5-Series and the Audi A8 to the title.

Which makes the WCOTY Awards a complete nonsense.