Nissan’s Leaf has been named as the 2011 2011 European Car of the Year and it’s the first time an electric car has won the award.

The European Car of the Year had 41 contenders which were whittled down to a shortlist of seven.

The Leaf narrowly won this year, with only 13 points separating the top three cars on the podium:

The Leaf beat off competition from the Alfa Romeo Giulietta, Citroen C3/DS3, Dacia Duster, Ford C-Max, Vauxhall Meriva and Volvo S60/V60.

European Car of the Year 2011: the results

1st Nissan Leaf 257 points
2nd Alfa Romeo Giulietta 248 points
3rd Vauxhall Meriva 244 points
4th Ford C-Max 224 points
5th Citroen C3/DS3 175 points
6th Volvo S60/V60 145 points
7th Dacia Duster 132 points

The first UK customers will get their Leaf’s in March. The zero-emission car is currently being built in Japan, but will also be produced –along with its batteries - in Sunderland, England from early 2013.