People of a certain age will certainly remember the Nissan Bluebird. For those who’re too young to remember (or need a refresher), it was a compact-sized executive sedan that started way back in 1955. The U12 series was offered for sale locally in the late 1980s to early 1990s in the Philippines; it was replaced by the Altima after.

In Europe, the Bluebird was a very important car for Nissan. When it was sold from 1986 to 1990, they managed to produce 187,178 units. When production ramped up, it took around 22 hours for each Bluebird to leave the assembly line.

Now, 35 years later, on the same plant, Nissan has manufactured 195,380 units of the Leaf. Improvements in manufacturing technology has reduced production time to just 10 hours for every Leaf.

Over the past decade the Leaf has won accolades around the world including Car of the Year 2011 in Europe, World Car of the Year 2011 and Car of the Year Japan in 2011 and 2012. There are now over half a million Leafs on the road around the world.

Nissan has set itself the goal to achieve carbon neutrality across the company’s operations and the life cycle of its products by 2050. As part of this effort, by the early 2030s every all-new Nissan vehicle offering in key markets will be electrified, as well as introducing innovations in electrification and manufacturing technology.