Nissan Motor (GB) Ltd provided their response via their solicitors.

They said the vertical link which stated "Zero emission by Nissan" would be understood by consumers as a stylised branding device, rather than a factual claim, and would therefore not be relied on in itself as to relate to the nature of the attributes of the car and would therefore not materially mislead.

They did not believe that the website's claims would mislead an average consumer, who was reasonably well informed, reasonably observant and circumspect. They felt that the average consumer would understand the claim, in the context of the website in which it appeared, to mean that the Nissan LEAF itself produced no emissions when in use. They said consumers would understand that an electric car ran on electricity and therefore 'zero emission/s vehicles' referred to the fact that the car produced no emissions when driving, unlike petrol/diesel/hybrid engines. They felt it was a widely-known fact that a proportion of the electricity in the national grid was produced from coal-fired power stations and the production of that electricity would produce CO2 and other emissions, and therefore, in light of that knowledge, an average consumer would not understand 'zero emission/s' to mean that no emissions would be produced in the generation of the electricity used to power the vehicle, although they noted that that could be the case if that consumer had chosen a renewable energy tariff. They said the claim expressly referred to "tailpipe" emissions and that the LEAF did not produce any CO2 'whilst driving'.

They said that 'zero emission/s vehicle/s' was regularly used by other car manufacturers, local and central government and the media to mean that there were no emissions by the vehicle when in use. They provided a number of press articles which employed the term, and added that a Google search for the term 'zero emission vehicle definition' returned various definitions which interpreted 'zero emission' as meaning 'zero tailpipe emissions'. They felt that that was the type of search a consumer might carry out, if they were uncertain about the meaning of 'zero emission/s'.

They said the Nissan website provided background information about electric cars and the claims were included in the 'Electric Vehicles' section of the website, which meant that any consumer reading the claims would have searched specifically for electric vehicles or would have navigated their way to that section of the website, which they felt should be taken to mean they were likely to be more knowledgeable that the average consumer about issues relating to electric cars.