Automotive
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| The Nissan Leaf was this year Europe's favorite |
Deceiving Edition
Another month, another sales record, with 14.057 units sold, making this the fifth straight month of growth for the European EV market, but these are deceiving numbers, because they are highly influenced by the last freak months in the Netherlands. If we discard those sales, we see more usual numbers (4.748 sales), but still 85% above last December, so yes, europeans are more into plug-ins, but unlike the Dutch, they are not feverishly rushing into dealerships to buy EV's...Anyway, the 67.000 plug-ins sold in 2013 represents a 51% rise over last year, positive numbers indeed.
Looking at the models YTD ranking, December made plenty of changes to it, thanks to new models and the inflated dutch market, the most important change was the Outlander PHEV climbing three spots to #3, thanks to a record-setting sales month (5.003 units!), just behind the Renault Zoe (#2) but still some distance away from the 2013 Best Selling EV in Europe, the Nissan Leaf, which more than doubled sales from one year to the other, selling 10.885 units in 2013. What a price drop can do to improve sales...
But changes in this dynamic market didn't stopped there, the Model S rose to #7, the Opel Ampera benefited from the dutch fever to climb two positions into #8 (But last year it was #2...), the VW e-Up! jumped six positions to #11 (VW, if doesn't get greedy, might have a winner here), beating the BMW i3 (Up one position to #12) in their private duel.
On the flip side, December was horrible for the Renault Twizy, selling just 149 units (Worst selling month ever) and losing three positions to end the year in #10, with 2.990 units. And to think that just last year it was #1 with 9.013 units sold...And the Ampera was #2 with 6.631 sales! How things have changed...
Looking at the brands ranking, Renault is still #1, with 27% Share (Last year it was 37%), followed by Nissan (16%) and Mitsubishi (14%).
Guessing for the '14 trends, discarding possible freak events, we will see sales reach some 60-70.000 units, with Mitsubishi headlining VW, Tesla and Volvo as the new contenders for the best selling title, and Renault and Nissan trying to stay ahead of all that competition. One thing is for certain, if the last few months were entertaining in the Europe ranking, 2014 promises to be even more interesting to follow.
| Pl | Europe | Dec. | 2013 | % | '12Pl |
| 1 | Nissan Leaf | 898 | 10.885 | 16 | 4 |
| 2 | Renault Zoe | 720 | 8.858 | 13 | 21 |
| 3 | Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV | 5.003 | 8.440 | 13 | N/A |
| 4 | Volvo V60 Plug-In | 2.004 | 7.437 | 11 | 22 |
| 5 | Renault Kangoo ZE | 459 | 5.845 | 9 | 3 |
| 6 | Toyota Prius Plug-In | 505 | 4.314 | 6 | 5 |
| 7 | Tesla Model S | 1.263 | 3.906 | 6 | N/A |
| 8 | Opel Ampera | 754 | 3.157 | 5 | 2 |
| 9 | Smart Fortwo ED | 466 | 3.017 | 5 | 12 |
| 10 | Renault Twizy | 149 | 2.990 | 4 | 1 |
| 11 | Volkswagen e-Up! | 842 | 1.465 | 2 | N/A |
| 12 | BMW i3 | 491 | 1.282 | 2 | N/A |
| 13 | Chevrolet Volt | 23 | 912 | 1 | 11 |
| 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 | Mitsubishi I-Miev Citröen C-Zero Bolloré Blue Car Peugeot iOn Goupil G3 Renault Fluence ZE Mia Electric | 43 76 43 20 30 20 5 | 895 728 654 541 516 357 255 | 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 | 8 6 9 7 14 1013 |
| TOTAL | 14.057 | 67.026 |
