Automotive
 |
| For the first time this year, the Volt family tickled the Nissan Leaf leadership |
Models - Record Sales for the Chevrolet Volt
The Prius Plug-In was third in August, performing the best sales month of the year, with 2.228 units, enough to recover another chunk of lost ground to the Tesla Model S, if the japanese car continues to press on with sales (doubt it), it might even remove the american sedan from #3 in the YTD ranking.
In the remaining ranking, the C-Max Energi profited from a year best performance (651 units) to climb to a surprising #7, surpassing both the Mitsubishi I-Miev (Another horrible month, as expected) and the Renault Kangoo ZE (A deeply unexpected and horrible month).
And the Mitsu (And the Kangoo, by the way) still has got to watch its back, because the Ford Fusion Energi is coming up strong, with a personal best in August (615 sales), now that it's got the competition for #10 behind, the midsize Ford is now looking to climb even further in the ranking.
BEV's saw their share expansion end, with PHEV's profiting from good months from their representatives to recover three points share, now at 61% BEV's vs 39% PHEV's.
| Pl | WORLD | August | YTD | % | '12Pl |
| 1 | Nissan Leaf | 4.355 | 28.555 | 25 | 3 |
| 2 | Chevrolet Volt (1) | 4.055 | 17.882 | 16 | 1 |
| 3 | Tesla Model S | 1.590 | 12.749 | 11 | 7 |
| 4 | Toyota Prius Plug-In | 2.228 | 12.077 | 11 | 2 |
| 5 | Renault Zoe | 449 | 5.911 | 5 | 28 |
| 6 | Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-In | 776 | 5.083 | 4 | N/A |
| 7 | Ford C-Max Energi | 651 | 3.654 | 3 | 9 |
| 8 | Renault Kangoo ZE | 171 | 3.372 | 3 | 6 |
| 9 | Mitsubishi I-Miev (2) | 175 | 3.371 | 3 | 5 |
| 10 | Ford Fusion Energi | 615 | 2.647 | 2 | N/A |
| TOTAL | 17.964 | 114.332 |
Manufacturers - Toyota a Surprise Third
In the Manufacturers ranking, the first two continue stable, with Nissan at the top and Chevrolet second, improving one percent to 16% share.
The real news is the third place of Toyota, climbing two positions, while Tesla keeps its fourth place, because it lost one position to Toyota but also won another at the expense of Renault, which was the loser in all these position changes, dropping two positions and ending the month in fifth. A blip for the french brand or a longer-term trend?
Behind the seven major players, figures become a bit sketchy as one doesn't know for sure how the chinese brands are behaving, but taking in account confirmed numbers, Chery holds to #8, followed by a bullish Smart in #9 and by BYD in #10.
A curious fact is that in 8 months, 5 out of the 10 best-selling brands have already beaten their previous YTD sales records, owing three of them to new models (Outlander PHEV for Mitsubishi, Model S for Tesla and the Energi family for Ford), while Nissan profited from the Leaf price drop and Smart from the series production of its 3rd gen Fortwo ED.
What this teaches us is that the market is starting to fragment, with new carmakers coming in (Like VW and the rest of the german squad), and existing ones responding by improving their current offer, while adding new models to their current lineup, like like Chevrolet with the Spark EV, or Ford with the Energi family, in that way expanding their sales potential for the brand.
| Pl | WORLD | August | YTD | % | '12Pl |
| 1 | Nissan | 4.352 | 28.555 | 25 | 3 |
| 2 | Chevrolet | 4.157 | 18.114 | 16 | 1 |
| 3 | Toyota | 2.460 | 12.860 | 11 | 2 |
| 4 | Tesla | 1.590 | 12.760 | 11 | 9 |
| 5 | Renault | 855 | 12.267 | 11 | 4 |
| 6 | Mitsubishi | 1.031 | 10.091 | 8 | 5 |
| 7 | Ford | 1.454 | 7.598 | 7 | 7 |
| 8 | Chery (e) | 200 | 2.200 | 2 | 6 |
| 9 | Smart | 310 | 1.985 | 2 | 15 |
| 10 | BYD | 273 | 1.858 | 2 | 8 |
(2) - Includes Citröen C-Zero and Peugeot iOn.
(e) - Estimate
Questions for September
Will the Prius Plug-In pass the Tesla Model S?
Which model will be #8?
Will Toyota confirm the #3?
Can Renault recover?
Can Smart attack Chery's eighth spot?
