Japan October 2013

These Nissan NMC remind me of something...But i just can´t remember what that is.

Nissan Edition 

Ending the October month roundup, we get Japan, that with 2.145 units sold, it dropped 25% regarding last month and it's 224 less than a year ago.

Looking at the models ranking, the Nissan Leaf continued in the four digit area (1.257 units), while the #2 Outlander PHEV registered just 560 units, a small number explained by Mitsu's focus on foreign markets.

Finally, we assist the landing of the Renault Twizy Nissan NMC, with the first 45 registrations of  a presumably short number of units.

Pl	Japan	Oct.	YTD	%	Pl '12
1	Nissan Leaf	1.257	10.480	49	2
2	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	560	6.415	30	N/A
3	Mitsubishi I-Miev	75	1.338	6	3
4	Mitsubishi Minicab Miev	93	1.310	6	4
5	Toyota Prius Plug-In e)	100	1.000	5	1
6 7	Mitsub. Minicab Miev Truck Nissan NMC	15 45	584 45	3 0	N/A      N/A
	TOTAL	2.145	21.172	100

e) Estimate

Source:http://evn.blog.eonet.jp; Manufacturers; http://www.samochodyelektryczne.org/

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China October 2013

My favorite chinese EV (Roewe E50) just sold 99 units this year. Why, oh why...

Top Dog Edition

China is a hard market to get accurate data, but thanks to our reader Emc2, we've got some new data regarding it, giving way to an approximate ranking of this important market (4th largest worldwide).

Up to October, sales mounted to some 7.800 units, 2.000 units less than a year ago, and most sales this year are BEV's (87%).

Based on available data and past performances, the presumed Top 5 repeats last years #1, with the Chery QQ3 EV head and shoulders (56% share) above all else with 4.207 units sold, in #2 the BYD e6 is way behind with 1.096 units, followed in third by the soon-to-be-deceased BYD F3 DM.

The JAC J3 drops 80% to just 400 units YTD, falling in the ranking from #2 to #5, while the BAIC E150 EV profits from the JAC's bad performance to climb one position and feature in #4.

Pl	Model	Sales
1	Chery QQ3 EV	4.207
2	BYD e6	1.096
3	BYD F3 DM	1.005
4	BAIC E150 EV (e)	450
5	JAC J3 EV (e)	400

(e) - Estimate

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World Top 10 October 2013 (Updated)

This handsome beast is hungry for green sales

Models - Energi Brothers on the Attack

With a record 19.014 plug-ins sold in October, the global market for electric cars continues to grow, thanks to record sales from several models, like the Prius Plug-In, Volvo V60 Plug-In or the Energi brothers from Ford.

In the first four positions the  #4 Prius Plug-In had record month and it's now less than 200 units behind Tesla's Model S, which should bounce back nest month. 

Behind them a lot is going on: The Outlander PHEV, helped by its Euro landing, is in comeback mode and starting to look at Zoe's fifth place with envious eyes. Also ambitious is the #7 Ford C-Max Energi, improving every month (#4 this month), distancing itself from the Kangoo ZE and now searching for the two above, while its stablemate Fusion Energi climbs to #9. The Mitsu I-Miev, which has been losing steam lately, also loses the tenth place to a strong QQ3 EV from Chery.

Still not absent from this ranking, the Volvo V60 Plug-In achieved another brilliant #6 position in October. November might see it get to the Top 10...

Pl	WORLD	Oct.	YTD	%	'12Pl
1	Nissan Leaf	4.203	37.348	25	3
2	Chevrolet Volt (1)	2.357	22.367	15	1
3	Tesla Model S e)	1.058	17.024	11	7
4	Toyota Prius Plug-In	2.813	16.834	11	2
5	Renault Zoe	945	7.511	5	28
6	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	1.010	6.865	5	N/A
7	Ford C-Max Energi	1.102	5.524	4	9
8	Renault Kangoo ZE	551	4.973	3	6
9	Ford Fusion Energi	1.092	4.494	3	N/A
10	Chery QQ3 EV	454	4.207	3	8
	TOTAL	19.461	153.361

Manufacturers - Chery in #8

In the Manufacturers ranking, there's not much to say, Ford is going strong (#4 in October), and  in the bottom positions we see an update on Chery's sales (4.207 units), allowing it to climb to #8.

Pl	WORLD	Sept.	YTD	%	'12Pl
1	Nissan	4.203	37.348	25	3
2	Chevrolet	2.423	22.747	15	1
3	Toyota	2.904	17.905	12	2
4	Tesla	1.058	17.037	11	9
5	Renault	1.850	14.249	11	4
6	Mitsubishi	1.462	12.778	8	5
7	Ford	2.219	11.573	8	7
8	Chery	454	4.207	3	6
9	Volvo	1.075	3.590	2	16
10	Smart	516	2.730	2	15

(1) - Includes Holden Volt, Opel and Vauxhall Ampera;
(e) - Estimate


Questions for November

1 - Which model will be #3 in November? Prius or Model S?

2 - Will the Outlander PHEV reach #5?

3 - Can the Fusion Energi reach #8?

4 - Will it be this time that the V60 Plug-In reaches the Top 10?

5 - Can Ford threaten the #7 of Mitsubishi?

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Some great concepts from Mitsubishi: video

Mitsubishi showed off some great concept cars at the Tokyo Motor Show 2013.


MITSUBISHI Concept XR PHEV


MITSUBISHI Concept AR


MITSUBISHI Concept GC PHEV

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Classic car fan gets a surprise

A classic car fan received a grand surprise. Kevin Matthews won their "if you had to pick one...." competition and Royal Mail literally delivered this Jaguar E-Type to his doorstep.

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Markets Roundup October 2013

One of the Surprises of the Year, this Volvo is climbing the sales charts

Volvo V60 Plug-In is Gaining Traction

In a month without no clear winners (Prius Plug-In in the USA, Fortwo ED in Germany, Volt in Canada, V60 Plug-In in the Netherlands, Leaf in Japan, Twizy in Italy, Zoe in Austria and France, etc), it's worth mentioning the performance of the swedish electric wagon, besides having with 99% certainty two '13 YTD Best Selling Model (Netherlands and Sweden) for their trophy room, with a third (Finland) also on the way, this month it also secured the Best Selling PHEV title in Germany(!) and Italy, besides other encouraging results elsewhere.

A good sign for the swedish carmaker and a hint that it should bet more on this segment, with increased production capacity, new markets and new models (XC60 Anyone?).

Nissan Leaf World Car 

Looking by continents, we can see the Leaf dominating the Euro and Asian market, while it's still fighting for #1 in the Americas, meaning that the three factory strategy is starting to pay off. 









Trends in the G7 

In the US market the top 3 cars (Prius Plug-In, Volt and Leaf) were separated by just 93 units, while in the YTD chart, the Volt leads but has the Leaf right behind, with less than 700 cars separating them.

Looking at EV shares, Norway and Netherlands EV Shares continue to grow like there's no tomorrow, (4,63% and 2,29%, respectively), while others are witnessing more moderate rises, like the in the USA, now at 0,59%.

Germany registered the best sales month of the year (832 units), and with the german brands launching in the coming months their first entries in this segment, one can only expect that sales will go sky high...

Like in the Netherlands, where a new record was set this month with 1.911 units, making it the best selling market in Europe.

BMW has high hopes for it's small i3

Other Markets

Mentioning countries with small footprints in the electric mobility thing, the Czech Republic has the Nissan Leaf in #1 with 11 units, the Peugeot iOn is second (6 units), while the other french derivative, the Citröen C-Zero is third with 4 units sold.

Poland is another country where the Leaf leads (8 units), with the Opel Ampera second (3 units) and the Renault's Zoe and Twizy tied in third with 2 sales.  

Questions for November

1 - Where will be beaten the next sales records?

2 - Who will be the US #1?

3 - Where will the Outlander PHEV be #1?

4 - Will the Zoe recover any more #1's?

5 - Where will the BMW i3 reach #1?

6 - Will the V60 Plug-In collect any other #1?

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More QNX-powered cars and infotainment systems from 2011 CES

The second installment in our CES Cars of Fame series. Today, we look at several systems from the 2011 CES event, starting with this week's inductee, a BMW Z4.

Paul Leroux

I've led you astray — sort of. Last week I stated that the LTE Connected Car, the first QNX-powered technology concept car, appeared at 2011 CES. But I didn't mention that QNX technology was at the core of several other innovative vehicles and infotainment systems at CES that year.

So let me set the record straight. And the best place to start is the QNX booth at 2011 CES, where a BMW Z4 roadster was the front-and-center attraction.

BMW Z4 Roadster with ConnectedDrive
The Z4 wasn't a technology concept car, but a true production car straight off the dealer lot. It was equipped with the QNX-based BMW ConnectedDrive system, which offers real-time traffic information, automatic emergency calling, and a text-to-speech feature that can read aloud emails, appointments, text messages, and other information from Bluetooth smartphones. It's a cool system right at home in this equally cool cockpit:



Heck, the whole car was cool, from the wheels up:



Audi A8 with Google Earth
Mind you, the coolness didn't stop at the QNX booth. Just down the hall, Audi showcased an A8 sedan equipped with the QNX-based 3G MMI infotainment system, featuring Google Earth. This same model drove home with the 2011 Edmunds Breakthrough Technology award a short while later.

I don't have any photos of the Audi from the CES show floor, but if you head over to the On Q blog, you can see some snaps from an automotive event that QNX hosted in Stuttgart two months earlier. The photos highlight the A8's innovative touchpad, which lets you input destination names by tracing them with your finger.

Toyota Entune infotainment system
And now to another award-winning QNX-based system. Toyota Entune embraces a simple, yet hard-to-achieve concept: help drivers interact with mobile content and applications in a non-distracting, handsfree fashion. For instance, if you are searching for a nearby restaurant, Entune lets you ask for it in a conversational fashion; no need for specific voice commands.

You could tell the judges for the CNET Best of CES awards were impressed, because they awarded Entune first prize, in the Car Tech category — the first of three QNX-powered systems to do. QNX Software Systems went on to win in 2011 for its QNX CAR Platform and then Chevy won in 2012 for its MyLink system. Not too shabby.

A cluster of clusters
We've looked at just three of the many QNX-based automotive systems showcased at 2011 CES. For instance, QNX also demonstrated digital instrument clusters built by Visteon for the Land Rover Range Rover and for the Jaguar XJ sedan, below:



Freescale, NVIDIA, TeleNav, and Texas Instruments also got into the act, demonstrating QNX systems in their booths and meeting areas.

Do you have any memories of 2011 CES? I'd love to hear them.

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Portugal October 2013

The new EV leader in Portugal?

BMW i3 Joins the Party Edition

The October Portuguese sales data came almost in the end of November, showing that EV's are growing 55% regarding last year, and with YTD sales at 203 units, it looks like the 2011 sales record (210 units) will be beaten, a major feat considering that unlike in '11, now there aren't any incentives to buy EV's. All this translates in a not-too-shabby 0,23% share, better than the neighboring Spain (0,14%) or the UK (0,19%), for that matter.

In the models ranking, lots of changes in a fairly fragmented market, the Renault Twizy recovers the Best Selling crown over the Peugeot iOn, with 5 units sold in October and mounting to 46 units this year and 23% share.

The Nissan Leaf (3 units sold in October) also recovers the Third spot from the Renault Fluence ZE, while the BMW i3 lands the portuguese market with 4 units sold, a significant number considering the small dimension of the portuguese EV market and the fact that these are only demonstration units.

BMW is marketing heavily the BMW i3 and considering the soft spot that the portuguese have for german cars, it wouldn't be a surprise if the bavarian hatch would lead this market in the next months...

Pl	Portugal	Oct.	YTD	%	Pl '12
1	Renault Twizy	5	46	23	1
2	Peugeot iOn		42	21	8
3	Nissan Leaf	3	33	16	3
4	Renault Fluence ZE		32	16	6
5	Smart Fortwo ED		21	10	2
6 7 8 9	Renault Zoe Opel Ampera BMW i3 Mitsubishi I-Miev	2 4	18 5 4 2	9 2 2 1	N/A 5 N/A 7
	TOTAL	14	203	100

Source: Best Selling Cars Blog; Manufacturers

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Europe October 2013

The "Angry Puppy" face of the BMW i3 is already peekin' on the Euro Ranking

Up Again Edition

The european plug-in market is growing for the third month in a row, with 6.153 units sold, October brought a new  sales record, with two models selling in the four digit area: The Nissan Leaf (1.115 units), more and more the EV  leader in the Old Continent, and the Volvo V60 Plug-In (1.075 units), that just keeps on improving its monthly numbers as well as its YTD position (It's now #4).

Good performance for the Renault Zoe (942 units), a much needed improvement just when people started to doubt Renault's strategy...

The Smart Fortwo ED had a record month (395 units), climbing to #7 and the Bolloré Blue Car had a comeback month, selling 203 units, climbing two positions to #12.

The BMW i3 makes its first appearance at the bottom of the ranking (#15), but with full on sales starting in November, things will only get better for the new bavarian baby.

Pl	Europe	Oct.	YTD	%	'12Pl
1	Nissan Leaf	1.115	8.458	21	4
2	Renault Zoe	942	7.506	19	21
3	Renault Kangoo ZE	551	4.948	12	3
4	Volvo V60 Plug-In	1.075	3.547	9	22
5	Toyota Prius Plug-In	317	3.055	8	5
6	Renault Twizy	296	2.676	7	1
7	Smart Fortwo ED	395	2.022	5	12
8	Opel Ampera	247	1.896	5	2
9	Tesla Model S	208	1.508	4	N/A
10	Chevrolet Volt	9	863	2	11
11	Mitsubishi I-Miev	109	746	2	8
12	Bolloré Blue Car	203	561	1	9
13	Goupil G3	38	456	1	14
14 15	Citröen C-Zero BMW i3	18 225	452 376	1 1	6 N/A
	TOTAL	6.153	40.434

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Telematics China — closing out the year with a get-together in Shanghai

Guest post by Peter McCarthy of the QNX global partnerships team

Peter McCarthy

Is it November already? Time flies when you’re busy. And on the subject of flying, I’ll soon be on a plane to Shanghai, where our friends at Telematics China are hosting what promises to be a great automotive event from December 4 to 6. The organizers have been instrumental in bringing together companies in the industry and a great support to QNX with our own automotive events.

Back in August, QNX held an automotive summit in Shanghai. The success of this event owed a lot to partners like AutoNavi, a leader in the Chinese navigation market that is bringing its digital map content and navigation software to the QNX CAR Platform. The AutoNavi folks delivered a great presentation on the future of in-vehicle services and navigation, and I am sure we will continue these discussions when we meet at the Telematics China event.

When I scroll through the list of sponsors, exhibitors, and presenters at Telematics China, I know for sure my days and nights will be busy — but more importantly, filled with conversations with all the right people. So if you’re attending the event, please reach out to your QNX contacts and make time to meet. We look forward to seeing you there.

---

About Peter
When he isn't talking on oversized mobile phones, Peter McCarthy serves as director of global partnerships at QNX Software Systems, where he is responsible for establishing and fostering partnerships with technology and services companies in all of the company's target industries.

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Selling your car with confidence

Most people thinking of selling their car are increasingly going on to the net to do so. The most popular online car selling site has got to be Auto trader here in the UK. I sold my last car on eBay - another site which is quite popular with a lot of private car sellers as well. However, if you live in the north of England, you may want to check out The car buying service. They are in nine locations, namely, Ashton-under-Lyne, Cheadle, Liverpool, Leeds, Bradford, Wakefield, Sheffield and Doncaster.

The company buys all types of car models and makes and is the online car buyer approved by RAC. You can value your car online in just four steps. First of all out your car registration number and then hit the 'Value my car' button.

You then provide more information about the car and your contact details after which you get the value of the car. If you feel that the price is right, you can then book an appointment. The great thing about this company is that the price quoted is the price you have to pay. There are no hidden "admin charges" that gets added to your bill afterwards.

Just check out their new TV advert:

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Jaguar unveils the F-TYPE Coupé at the LA Auto Show

The F-TYPE Coupé made its global debut on 19 November in Los Angeles.

The all-aluminium F-TYPE Coupé is available in three versions: F-TYPE R, F-TYPE S and the F-TYPE. All engines drive the rear wheels through an eight-speed 'Quickshift' transmission with full manual sequential control via steering wheel-mounted paddles or the central SportShift lever.

The F-TYPE R Coupé is powered by Jaguar’s 5.0-litre supercharged V8 engine, delivering acceleration to 60 mph in 4 seconds, and a top speed of 186 mph (electronically limited). The F-TYPE R delivers enhanced agility and handling via Jaguar’s second-generation Electronic Active Differential, Jaguar’s new Torque Vectoring by braking system and a Carbon Ceramic Matrix (CCM) braking system.

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Switzerland October 2013

One electric car for the swiss (rich) people: The Tesla Model S

Zoe Edition

With 100 units in October, the swiss market stumbled 30% regarding last month but, despite that, the EV share is atable at.

This month was the Renault Zoe turn to have a smash month, selling 52 units, making October the second best month of the french hatch in swiss country. As the #2 (Twizy) and #3 (Leaf), only registered one unit, Renault's star-baby distanced itself in #1 on the YTD chart.

The other car to register significant sales on the EV chart was the Tesla Model S (18 units), making Switzerland one of the most successful markets for the american manufacturer.

Finally, an unexpected move at the bottom of the YTD chart: The long dead Fisker Karma had some sort of resurrection (Stock clearance?) and sold seven units this month, enough to pass the dead man walking Citröen C-Zero and climb to #8.

Pl	Switzerland	Oct.	YTD	%	'12Pl
1	Renault Zoe	52	240	24	11
2	Renault Twizy	1	188	19	1
3	Nissan Leaf	1	150	15	6
4	Tesla Model S	18	129	13	N/A
5	Mitsubishi I-Miev	9	99	10	5
6	Opel Ampera	7	66	7	2
7	Chevrolet Volt	5	47	5	6
8	Fisker Karma	7	21	2	8
9	Citröen C-Zero		20	2	4
10	Peugeot iOn		9	1	9
11	Renault Fluence ZE		7	1	7
12	Tesla Roadster		3	0	10
13	Think City		3	0	12
	TOTAL	100	982	100

Source: auto-suisse.ch; Manufacturers

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Italy October 2013

Is this the first Plug-In Hybrid to succeed in Italy?

Twizy Again Edition

The Italian EV market grew for the second month on a row to 116 units, with the Renault Twizy (48 units) presenting the second best sales result of the year.

In second came the Nissan Leaf, with 25 units, enough to cement its #2 place in the YTD chart.

The surprising Volvo V60 Plug-In won the last place in the podium, with 15 units sold, beating the usual suspects Smart Fortwo ED and Renault Zoe, both having sold 12 units.

No changes in the YTD chart, with the exception of the rapid rise of the V60 in the ranking (It's now #6), leading to a curious fact: The swedish wagon only needed three months to beat the Opel Ampera (#7) as the Best Selling PHEV in Italy.

Will this be the first Plug-In Hybrid to sell significantly here? Only time will tell... 

Pl	Italy	Oct.	YTD	%	'12Pl
1	Renault Twizy	48	341	34	1
2	Nissan Leaf	25	249	25	3
3	Renault Zoe	12	185	19	N/A
4	Smart Fortwo ED	12	129	13	8
5	Renault Fluence ZE	2	30	3	7
6	Volvo V60 Plug-In	15	21	2	N/A
7	Opel Ampera e)	2	19	2	6
8	Peugeot iOn		14	1	5
9	Chevrolet Volt		8	1	N/A
10 11 11	Tesla Roadster Citröen C-Zero Mia Electric		2 1 1	0 0 0	10 3 N/A
	TOTAL	116	1.000	100

e) Estimate

Source: greenstart.it; Manufacturers.

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