Over the past 12 months Nissan has released 12 new models in Europe and sold more than 724,000 vehicles. The carmaker has also unveiled its Sway small car concept at Geneva.

“We have grown for our fifth consecutive year in a row. Our approach to strengthening the Nissan brand, products, and service is clearly working. We continue to invest in our strong manufacturing footprint in Europe and we are well positioned to grow in Europe,” said Paul Willcox, chairman of Nissan in Europe.

He added: “We have seen the best-ever European sales with a 50% increase in five years and new versions of the pioneering Qashqai, Juke and X-Trail, reinforcing Nissan’s crossover leadership with sales exceeding 410,000.”

Colin Lawther, SVP manufacturing, supply chain management and purchasing in Europe, said: “We have produced more than 675,000 Nissan vehicles in the UK, Spain and Russia in the last financial year. We are a force to be reckoned with in key markets across Europe and our sales figures support this.”

This year marks the fifth anniversary of the Nissan LEAF and new additions to Nissan’s electric vehicle offering this year will include a seven-seat version of the e-NV200 and a special edition LEAF.

The company added that it is committed to bringing autonomous cars to market by 2020, with a differentiated offering built on simplicity, safety and accessibility.

“In recent years, we’ve completely re-defined what Nissan means for our customers. We have a track record of bringing the ‘best to the most’ – first. Our award-winning crossover segment, range of EVs and the building blocks of autonomous driving – Nissan Safety Shield and Around View Mirror – are already available in our cars today,” added Willcox.