A CAR maker has hit an electric vehicle milestone.

Nissan says UK sales of its allelectric Leaf hatchback have passed the 15,000 mark.

The celebration comes a little more than 12 months after the company saw its 10,000th model roll out of the showroom.

According to latest statistics, the Sunderland-based manufacturer has sold 2,336 UK Leafs in the yearto- date.

The number is slightly down on the 2,964 bought this time 12 months ago, but bosses say demand remains robust as drivers turn to greener motoring.

They added the model remains the world’s best-selling electric vehicle, ahead of various rivals, including the Renault Zoe, with more than 230,000 on the road around the world.

The Leaf was launched in 2011 before being revised in 2013, when production started at Nissan’s Wearside factory to build the model for the European market.

Ed Jones, electric vehicle manager at Nissan Motor (GB), said: “Leaf owners are some of the most satisfied drivers on the roads.

“They’ve realised switching to all-electric power delivers so many benefits, such as running costs being around four times cheaper than a conventional combustion engine and up to 40 per cent savings in vehicle maintenance.

“There’s good reason the Leaf is the best-selling electric vehicle in the UK.”

The Leaf is made on the same production line as Nissan’s everpopular Qashqai, with one in every ten cars rolling off an electric one, while its batteries are also made on the site.

Earlier this year, Nissan’s Sunderland plant marked the 30-year anniversary of the first car, a Bluebird, being driven off its production line.

The factory now employs 6,700 people and previously became the first UK car base to make more than 500,000 vehicles in a year.

It has now made 8.7 million vehicles across a number of different models, including the Bluebird, Primera, Micra, Qashqai and Leaf.

The site is now manufacturing the Q30 for sister luxury marque Infiniti, which will be joined by the QX30.

Both are primed to become the first premium models to be made on Wearside and exported to the US and China.

Last year, the company saw the 500,000th version of its secondgeneration Qashqai roll off its Wearside production line in a record-breaking 21 months, and in March this year, bosses revealed they will spend £22m to make more examples of the model.

The carmaker is modifying the site’s Line 2 to introduce additional Qashqai production.

The first vehicles are due to be built before the end of the year, when the latest version of the Qashqai will be fitted with Nissan’s auto-pilot system.