YOKOHAMA, Japan — Nissan showed off its Leaf electric car today, trumpeting its zero-emission technology and practicality with video of the hatchback zipping through snow and water.

The car, among the world’s first mass-market electric vehicles, is already sold out until March 2011 because of limited production capacity. There have been 6,000 orders in Japan and 20,000 in the U.S. It arrives in Europe next year.

“This day has finally arrived,” a grinning Nissan Motor Co. Chief Operating Officer Toshiyuki Shiga said, before posing for photographs with Japanese customers who had placed orders for the Leaf. “The curtains are about to rise for a new era in the auto industry.”

Shiga said the Leaf will sell in Japan for $45,000 but with a $9,000 government green incentive the price will come down to $35,000.

The manufacturer’s suggested retail price in the U.S. is $33,600. Some states offer incentives and rebates for the electric car, and a taxpayer can claim a $7,500 federal tax credit for purchasing a Leaf in the U.S.