‘There are still investments going in, but for now we have the total package we promised – four cars for Renault and two for Nissan,’ he said. ‘Now the priority is to sell.’

The supermini-sized ZOE electric car is based on the platform of the latest Clio and built on the same production line at the Flins factory in France. In the UK, it costs from £13,650 (€15,949) after deducting the government low-emission vehicle grant, which makes it roughly half of the price of most other mainstream EVs.

This is possible because Renault retains ownership of the car's batteries and leases them for £70 (€82) a month. The ZOE's 22kWh battery pack could have added thousands of pounds to the cost of the car if they had been included in the price.

‘ZOE is a real car which will make a big change in the perception of electric vehicles,’ said Ghosn. ‘When I started our EV programme in 2006-07 a lot of people considered an electric car was a golf cart. Today the EV challenge has been met.

‘We are building the right conditions for EV sales to take off. Most carmakers will be represented by 2014-15. We didn't do EVs as a hobby. It's a business and a profit centre. Today the (Nissan) LEAF is profitable and it will be the same for the ZOE.’