The Nissan Leaf may be the best-selling electric car in history, with more than 200,000 sales, but the Renault half of the Renault-Nissan Alliance can now trumpet a milestone of its own.
The Renault Zoe electric car has passed 50,000 sales since the first one was delivered in December 2012.
The 50,000th Zoe was presented, at Renault’s Flins factory near Paris, to a customer from the Parisian suburb of Saint-Cloud.
DON’T MISS: Renault Zoe Electric Car: First Drive Of Europe’s Leaf Alternative (May 2013)
It’s fitting that this car was delivered in Renault’s home country, as that is by far the subcompact model’s strongest market.
Last year, the Zoe comprised 19.2 percent of the French electric-car market, with 18,453 registrations.
That was helped by a national “Superbonus” incentive intended to encourage sales of electric cars.
2013 Renault Zoe electric car (European model) at 2012 Paris Auto Show
More than half of all Zoes sold during 2015 benefited from that incentive, Renault has previously said.
The Zoe was also Europe’s best-selling electric car in 2015, and it seems to be holding onto that position so far in 2016.
Over the first two months of the year, the Zoe racked up 2,978 sales, giving it 12.6 percent of the European electric-car market.
ALSO SEE: Renault Zoe Leads 2015 European Sales Of All-Electric Cars
The Zoe is a dedicated electric model like the Leaf, but is somewhat smaller than its Nissan cousin.
It’s also offered with a novel battery-lease scheme, where owners pay a monthly fee for use of the battery pack based on the amount of mileage they cover.
In addition to the Zoe, Renault currently sells the Kangoo ZE electric van, and the Twizy, a two-seat, low-speed electric vehicle.
Renault Zoe electric cars on the Outer Hebrides
It no longer makes the Fluence ZE developed for the now-bankrupt Israeli battery-swap startup Better Place.
But that car lives on as the SM3 ZE in South Korea, where it is sold under the Renault Samsung banner.
MORE: European electric and plug-in hybrid sales for January-February 2016
In June 2015, Renault and alliance partner Nissan said they had passed a quarter million electric-vehicle sales.
The majority of those sales are made up by the Leaf, which passed its 200,000 mark in December 2015.
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