Automotive
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| Customers are going for them |
The Empire Strikes Back Edition
Still without Austria and Portugal numbers, the European market had more than 9.500 units registrations in January, almost doubling sales regarding January '14 (5.226 units), as the first month of the year is usually one of the slowest, there are reasons to be optimistic for the rest of the year.
Looking at the models ranking, we can see Volkswagen recovering for the lost time regarding plug-ins, with both the e-Golf (Thank you Norway) and the GTE (Thank you Netherlands) in podium positions, if we think that both cars are basically the same model, the Best Seller would be the VW Golf, but as both are considered different beasts (The first is a Leaf-killer, the second is a sporty PHEV) we should see them different identities, so the Best Seller for now is still the Outlander PHEV, with 1.980 units.
In the Top 10, the only real changes happened to VW's: If the Golf GTE sales surged to four digits, meaning that in its first real sales month it reached #2 (Should Mitsu be worried?), its more sedate relative, the e-Golf finally broke into the four digit league, collecting at the same time its first podium seat. Unlike its larger brothers, the e-Up! had a disappointing performance, selling only 263 units, the worst result since it landed in 2013, dropping four positions, from #6 to #10.
But changes didn't stopped there, in the second half of the ranking, underlining a great month for VAG, the Audi A3 e-Tron climbed to #11 and the Porsche Cayenne to #12, with the SUV selling 237 units, a sales level never before reached by the sports-car brand (The Panamera Plug-In monthly sales record is 128 units), will it reach a Top 10 position soon?
The Kia Soul EV also has been quietly ramping up sales, with the personal best score of 224 units allowing it to climb to #13.
On the other hand, there are two models starting the year with poor performances, the regular as a clock Renault Kangoo ZE registered only 125 units, its worst result since 2012, a mere blip or something to worry about? As for the Prius Plug-In, the sales dive is no longer news, after a Fifth Spot in 2012 (#2 in the PHEV chart), with 8% share, and holding on into the next year (#6 in 2013 & #3 in the PHEV chart, with share dropping 2% to 6%), it has been downhill since then (The japanese ended 2014 in #14 and 1% share), and starting the year in #20 doesn't sound very promising. A new and improved model is needed urgently, Toyota...
Looking at the brands ranking, Volkswagen is the surprise leader, surging to 24% share (Last year it had only 9%), followed by Mitsubishi (22%), while Nissan is Third with only 11% share.
| Pl | Europe | Jan. | 2015 | % | '14Pl |
| 1 | Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV | 1.980 | 1.980 | 21 | 1 |
| 2 | Volkswagen Golf GTE | 1.033 | 1.033 | 11 | 22 |
| 3 | Volkswagen e-Golf | 1.026 | 1.026 | 11 | 9 |
| 4 | Nissan Leaf | 988 | 988 | 10 | 2 |
| 5 | Renault Zoe | 709 | 709 | 7 | 3 |
| 6 | Tesla Model S | 549 | 549 | 6 | 4 |
| 7 | BMW i3 | 502 | 502 | 5 | 5 |
| 8 | Volvo V60 Plug-In | 475 | 475 | 5 | 7 |
| 9 | Smart Fortwo ED | 297 | 297 | 3 | 10 |
| 10 | Volkswagen e-Up! | 263 | 263 | 3 | 6 |
| 11 | Audi A3 e-Tron | 242 | 242 | 3 | 19 |
| 12 | Porsche Cayenne Plug-In | 237 | 237 | 2 | 28 |
| 13 | Kia Soul EV | 224 | 224 | 2 | 23 |
| 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 | BMW i8 Renault Twizy Renault Kangoo ZEBolloré Blue Car Mitsubishi I-Miev Peugeot iOn Toyota Prius Plug-In | 182 127 125 120 101 77 69 | 182 127 125 120 101 77 69 | 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 | 15 11 8 13 17 2114 |
| TOTAL | 9.569 | 9.569 |
