A low-down look at the QNX concept cars

Paul Leroux

It’s that time of year again. The QNX concept team has set the wheels in motion and started work on a brand new technology concept car, to be unveiled at CES 2016.

The principle behind our technology concept cars is simple in theory, but challenging in practice: Take a stock production vehicle off the dealer’s lot, mod it with new software and hardware, and create user experiences that make driving more connected, more enjoyable, and, in some cases, even safer.

It’s always fun to guess what kind of car the team will modify. But the real story lies in what they do with it. In recent years, they’ve implemented cloud-based diagnostics, engine sound enhancement, traffic sign recognition, collision warnings, speed alerts, natural voice recognition — the list goes on. There’s always a surprise or two, and I intend to keep it that way, so no hints about the new car until CES. ;-)

In the meantime, here is a retrospective of QNX technology concept cars, past and present. It’s #WheelWednesday, so instead of the usual eye candy, I’ve chosen images to suit the occasion. Enjoy.

The Maserati Quattroporte GTS
From the beginning, our technology concept cars have demonstrated how the QNX platform helps auto companies create connected (and compelling) user experiences. The Maserati, however, goes one step further. It shows how QNX can enable a seamless blend of infotainment and ADAS technologies to simplify driving tasks, warn of possible collisions, and enhance driver awareness. The car can even recommend an appropriate speed for upcoming curves. How cool is that?

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The Mercedes CLA 45 AMG
By their very nature, technology concept cars have a short shelf life. The Mercedes, however, has defied the odds. It debuted in January 2014, but is still alive and well in Europe, and is about to be whisked off to an event in Dubai. The car features a multi-modal user experience that blends touch, voice, physical buttons, and a multi-function controller, enabling users to interact naturally with infotainment functions. The instrument cluster isn’t too shabby, either. It will even warn you to ease off the gas if you exceed the local speed limit.

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The Bentley Continental GT
I dubbed our Bentley the “ultimate show-me car,” partially because that’s exactly what people would ask when you put them behind the wheel. The digital cluster was drop-dead gorgeous, but the head unit was the true pièce de résistance — an elegantly curved 17” high-definition display based on TI’s optical touch technology. And did I mention? The car’s voice rec system spoke with an English accent.

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The Porsche 911 Carrera
Have you ever talked to a Porsche? Well, in this case, you could — and it would even talk back. We outfitted our 911 with cloud-based voice recognition (so you could control the nav system using natural language) and text-to-speech (so you could listen to incoming BBMs, emails, and text messages). But my favorite feature was one-touch Bluetooth pairing: you simply touched your phone to an NFC reader in the center console and, hey presto, the phone and car were automatically paired,

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The Chevrolet Corvette
I have a confession to make: The Corvette is the only QNX technology concept car that I got to drive around the block. For some unfathomable reason, they never let me drive another one. Which is weird, because I saw the repair bill, and it wasn’t that much. In any case, the Corvette served as the platform for the very first QNX technology concept car, back in 2010. It included a reconfigurable instrument cluster and a smartphone-connected head unit — features that would become slicker and more sophisticated in our subsequent concept vehicles. My favorite feature: the reskinnable UI.

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The Jeep Wrangler
Officially, the Wrangler serves as the QNX reference vehicle, demonstrating what the QNX CAR Platform can do out of the box. But it also does double-duty as a concept vehicle, showing how the QNX platform can help developers build leading-edge ADAS solutions. My favorite features: in-dash collision warnings and a fast-booting backup display.



Well, there you have it. In just a few months’ time, we will have the honor of introducing you to a brand new QNX technology concept car. Any guesses as to what the wheels will look like?

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If you liked this post, you may also be interested in... The lost concept car photos

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World Top 10 August 2015

SAIC Roewe 550 PHEV: Are we witnessing it following Qin's steps for success?

Models -  BYD Qin #1! (Finally!)

Almost 38.000 plug-ins were sold last month, which represents a significant 40% increase regarding the same month last year.

August finally crowned the BYD Qin with the #1 position, ironically, in the first month the chinese sedan has a sales decrease (3.534 units vs 4.030 last month).

The top two, Nissan Leaf and Tesla Model S had average performances (3.269 units and 2.805, respectively) but the Mitsu Outlander PHEV had a surprisingly slow sales month (Only 2.328 units), losing the #3 for the BYD Qin. This may indicate that September will see a Tesla-like surge in sales for the japanese SUV. If it does, it will be another piece in the puzzle of what i suspect will be a record-breaking month of September, will we see it cross the 45k mark? Fingers crossed! 

Looking at the rest of the YTD ranking, the only notable change is the Golf GTE dropping one position to #9, changing positions with the veteran Volt, while the e-Golf is now only 7 units behind the #6 Renault Zoe, which registered its worst performance of the year, with only 609 registrations. That's what happens when your main market goes on holidays... 

Outside the Top 10, two models had noteworthy performances, the SAIC Roewe 550 PHEV sedan sold a record 1.628 units, placing it in a honorable Sixth on the August ranking, while the just arrived BYD Tang registered 1.432 units last month alone, earning its first Top 10 appearance (#7, to be precise), in the future we will surely hear a lot about this SUV, and if this year the YTD Top 10 place seems unlikely, next year it will be a given.

Taking a short look at segmentation, in the city cars, the Zotye E20 is ahead (5.624 units), in the segment above the BMW i3 must have secured this month its second consecutive B-Segment/Subcompact car trophy, beating again the Renault Zoe, C-segment / Compact class is for the Leaf, while the in class above, this year it will go again for the Ford Fusion Energi (6.196 units), a car that could do wonders on other side of the Pond...Tesla is eons away from the competition in the following class, next is the rarefied field of F-Segment/Luxury full-size cars the veteran Panamera Plug-In still holds the lead against the Merc S500/550e (856 units vs 523), while on Sports cars, SUV's and MPV's, it's business as usual, with the BMW i8, Outlander PHEV and C-Max Energi leading the way.   

Pl	WORLD	Aug.	YTD	%	'14Pl
1	Nissan Leaf	3.269	31.704	11	1
2	Tesla Model S	2.805	27.645	10	3
3	BYD Qin	3.534	24.041	8	7
4 5 6	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV BMW i3 Renault Zoe	2.328 2.137 609	23.889 14.597 10.117	8 5 4	2 6 9
7	Volkswagen e-Golf	1.251	10.110	4	21
8	Chevrolet Volt (1)	1.597	9.501	3	4
9	Volkswagen Golf GTE	1.156	9.027	3	33
10	BAIC E-Series EV	1.280	8.244	3	16
	TOTAL	37.743	285.842

Manufacturers -  BYD going after Nissan

After four consecutive months winning the Best Selling Manufacturer title, this time with a new personal record (5.402 units), BYD is closing in fast to the leader Nissan, with only 3.291 units separating them, the leadership might still change until December 31st. 

Mitsubishi and Tesla are running a close race for #3, for the moment the California-based automaker holds a 539 units advantage over the japanese, but  anything can happen next month.

Chevrolet is preparing the assault at the #9 position in September, time where the Volt II will start rolling around the streets of the World North America in silence.

Pl	WORLD	Aug.	YTD	%	'14Pl
1	Nissan	3.435	34.285	12	1
2	BYD	5.402	30.994	11	7
3	Tesla	2.805	27.645	10	3
4	Mitsubishi	2.760	27.106	9	2
5 6 7	Volkswagen BMW Renault	2.650 2.567 1.121	21.325 18.294 15.140	7 6 5	11 9 8
8	Ford	1.960	13.540	5	5
9	Zotye	1.552	11.701	4	13
10	Chevrolet	1.737	11.555	4	6

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

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Belgium August 2015

Two contestants, only one winner: Who will it be?

Vacances / Vakantie / Ferien Edition

289 EV's were sold in Belgium last month, which is a respectable number to present in August, a holiday season, with YoY sales up 124%.

The two reasons for this good result are called Tesla Model S and Porsche Cayenne Plug-In, both performing one of their best performances of the year (3rd best for Tesla, 2nd best for Porsche), their race for the Best Seller crown is pushing the belgian EV Market forward (Around 0,9% Share), and that can only mean good things.

Most places remained the same, but at the bottom, the Peugeot iOn jumped four positions to #20 and with its Mitsu I-Miev twin registering its first units of the year this month, we see something of a comeback from the I-Miev family.

In the manufacturers ranking, everything remains the same, with Porsche leading (23%), followed closely by Tesla (22%, + 1%) and BMW, with 16%.

Pl	Belgium	Aug.	YTD	%	'14Pl
1	Tesla Model S	83	569	22	1
2	Porsche Cayenne Plug-In	77	523	20	14
3 4	BMW i3 * VW Golf GTE	20 9	280 197	11 8	2 23
5	Volvo V60 Plug-In	4	147	6	6
6	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	7	137	5	5
7	Nissan Leaf	11	138	5	4
8	Audi A3 e-Tron	12	127	5	15
9	BMW i8	10	122	5	9
10	Porsche Panamera Plug-In	5	78	3	3
11	Renault Twizy	9	49	2	8
11	Mercedes B-Class ED	11	49	2	N/A
13 14 15 15	Mercedes S500 Plug-In VW e-Golf Smart Fortwo ED Renault Zoe	3 2 3 3	40 30 24 24	2 1 1 1	N/A 10 10 7
17 18 19 20 21 22 23 23 25 25 25 28	VW e-Up! Kia Soul EV Mercedes C350e Peugeot iOn Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia Porsche 918 Ford Focus Electric Opel Ampera Mitsubishi I-Miev Volkswagen XL1 McLaren P1 Toyota Prius Plug-In	1 2 2 8 2 2 2 1	19 13 11 10 9 7 3 3 2 2  2 1	1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	12 18 N/A 17  18 21 N/A 16 18 N/A 23 23
	TOTAL	289	2.616	100

Source: febiac.be

* - 12 Bev + 8 Rex

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Europe August 2015 (Updated)

First #1 Edition

More than 10.000 units were sold last month in the European EV market and still without the Belgium numbers, it's a 55% improvement YoY, so plug-ins continue in good health and con only get better, considering the last events.

Looking at the monthly models ranking, the big news is the first #1 of the VW Golf GTE, after several runner-up places (July, May and January), the PHEV hot-hatch has finally made it to Number One, benefiting from the upcoming skin-change of the Outlander PHEV (Only #5 with 938 units, worst performance in 19 months), but this Top 5 has one more surprise, thanks to a 400 unit fleet deal in Denmark, the BMW i3 jumps to #3 and performs a year best performance, this result is so good for the german hatch that we have to go back a year to see the i3 back in a podium seat.

Pl	Model	Sales
1	Volkswagen Golf GTE	1.156
2	Tesla Model S	1.066
3	BMW i3	1.025
4	Nissan Leaf	1.004
5	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	945

Looking at the YTD ranking, thanks to some updates on the UK data, there are a number of changes to report, all below the top nine positions: the Kia Soul EV is now #10, jumping four positions, the Kangoo ZE and Nissan e-NV200 continue their close fight for #11 and the Best Selling LCV in the chart, with the frech now back in front, and the VW e-Up! drops three positions to #13.

On another good month for Mercedes, their PHEV offerings have positive results: the C350e jumps three positions to #16 and the S500e climbs two positions to #24, surpassing the Panamera Plug-In in the race for best selling F-segment EV.

Looking at the brands ranking, Volkswagen increased slightly the lead Europe's EV Manufacturers Throne (19%, +1%), followed by Mitsubishi (16%, -1%) and Renault, stable at 13%.

Pl	Europe	Aug.	2015	%	'14Pl
1	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	945	16.661	16	1
2	Nissan Leaf	1.004	10.874	10	2
3	Renault Zoe	585	10.044	10	3
4	Tesla Model S	1.066	9.569	9	4
5	Volkswagen Golf GTE	1.156	9.027	9	22
6	Volkswagen e-Golf	870	7.898	8	9
7	Audi A3 e-Tron	898	7.134	7	19
8	BMW i3	1.025	6.464	6	5
9 10 11	Volvo V60 Plug-In Kia Soul EV Renault Kangoo ZE	219 540 214	3.151 2.253 2.186	3 2 2	7 23 8
12	Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia	105	2.060	2	12
13	Volkswagen e-Up!	217	2.039	2	6
14	Porsche Cayenne Plug-In	261	1.921	2	28
15 16 17 18	Mercedes B-Class ED Mercedes C350e BMW i8 Renault Twizy	266 416 117 101	1.869 1.675 1.523 1.426	2 2 1 1	29 N/A 15 11
19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30	Smart Fortwo ED Peugeot iOn Citröen C-Zero Bolloré Blue Car Mitsubishi I-Miev Mercedes S500e Toyota Prius Plug-In Ford C-Max Energi Porsche Panamera Plug-In Goupil Peugeot Partner EV Opel Ampera	99  148 74 1 76 30 27 66 21 19 15 13	1.361 970 577 552 517 503 432 404 380 269 201 182	1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	10 21 20 13 17 31 14 N/A 18 24 25 16
	TOTAL	10.682	104.730	100

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UK June 2015

New Kids Edition

Thanks to a new article on RAC Foundation, i can now post a ranking regarding UK's First Half of the Year sales.

An amazing 13.000 plug-ins were sold in the first half of the year in the UK, trouncing the 4.000-something of the same period last year, and is less than a thousand units away from breaking the record result set last year, like, in the whole of 2014!

As a result, the EV Share is now at around 1%, almost double of the 0,56% of last year...

Looking at the models ranking, the top two continue miles ahead of the competition, together own two thirds of the market (49% for Mitsu's SUV, 18% for the Leaf), with the BMW i3 still in Third, but it has been assisting to a sales slowdown, which might have to do with a couple of new models, like the #6 Audi A3 e.Tron and its sporty cousin, the #7 VW Golf GTE, two cars that have everything to succeed in the Old Albion.

Regarding the rest of the ranking, the BMW i8 dropped one position to #5 (Still, is its highest position in the Top 8 markets), to the benefit of the Renault Zoe, now #4, while the Model S also dropped one position to #8.

In this more detailed ranking, a reference for the good performance of the Mercedes models: The S500e plug-in hybrid is #10 with 124 units, the Mercedes B-Class ED is now #15 and looking to reach a Top 10 place until year end, and finally the C350e plug-in hybrid has just landed to register its first 19 units.

Pl	UK	June	H1 '15
1	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	293	6.793
2	Nissan Leaf	554	2.964
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 15	BMW i3 Renault Zoe BMW i8 Audi A3 e-Tron Volkswagen Golf GTE Tesla Model S Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia Mercedes S500e Toyota Prius Plug-In Porsche Panamera Plug-In Vauxhall Ampera Renault Twizy Mercedes B-Class ED Volvo V60 Plug-In	118 126 60 90 150 44 68 12 9 5 9 11 18 9	950 706 544 504 350 349 308 124 110 95 81 76 67 67
	TOTAL		13.782

Source: samochodyelektryczne.org; RAC

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Custom startup snapshots

The JavaScript specification includes a lot of built-in functionality, from math functions to a full-featured regular expression engine. Every newly-created V8 context has these functions available from the start. For this to work, the global object (for example, the window object in a browser) and all the built-in functionality must be set up and initialized into V8’s heap at the time the context is created. It takes quite some time to do this from scratch.

Fortunately, V8 uses a shortcut to speed things up: just like thawing a frozen pizza for a quick dinner, we deserialize a previously-prepared snapshot directly into the heap to get an initialized context. On a regular desktop computer, this can bring the time to create a context from 40 ms down to less than 2 ms. On an average mobile phone, this could mean a difference between 270 ms and 10 ms.

Applications other than Chrome that embed V8 may require more than vanilla Javascript. Many load additional library scripts at startup, before the “actual” application runs. For example, a simple TypeScript VM based on V8 would have to load the TypeScript compiler on startup in order to translate TypeScript source code into JavaScript on-the-fly.

As of the release of V8 4.3 two months ago, embedders can utilize snapshotting to skip over the startup time incurred by such an initialization.. The test case for this feature shows how this API works.

To create a snapshot, we can call v8::V8::CreateSnapshotDataBlob with the to-be-embedded script as a null-terminated C string. After creating a new context, this script is compiled and executed. In our example, we create two custom startup snapshots, each of which define functions on top of what JavaScript already has built in.

We can then use v8::Isolate::CreateParams to configure a newly-created isolate so that it initializes contexts from a custom startup snapshot. Contexts created in that isolate are exact copies of the one from which we took a snapshot. The functions defined in the snapshot are available without having to define them again.

There is an important limitation to this: the snapshot can only capture V8’s heap. Any interaction from V8 with the outside is off-limits when creating the snapshot.  Such interactions include:

• defining and calling API callbacks (i.e. functions created via v8::FunctionTemplate)
• creating typed arrays, since the backing store may be allocated outside of V8

And of course, values derived from sources such as Math.random or Date.now are fixed once the snapshot has been captured. They are no longer really random nor reflect the current time.

Limitations aside, startup snapshots remain a great way to save time on initialization. We can shave off 100ms from the startup spent on loading the TypeScript compiler in our example above (on a regular desktop computer). We're looking forward to seeing how you might put custom snapshots to use!

Posted by Yang Guo, Software Engineer and engine pre-heater supplier

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"Das Diesel" Gate

Some readers have sent me e-mails questioning my thoughts on the current Volkswagen emissions scandal, so here's a few thoughts on this:

Diesel was a technological dead end even before this case

The absolute record for diesel consumption (without hybrid assistance) of a production model has 16 years, it's in the hands of the 1999 Volkswagen Lupo TDI 3L, which, as the name says, averages three liters of diesel consumption per hundred kilometers.

Comparing the 3L with its gasoline direct competitor, the 1.0 Lupo (5.6l/100kms), not only the diesel version was more powerful (61 PS vs 50 PS), it also saved 2.6 liters every 100 kms! 

In 1999, diesel technology was winning the battle hands down...

As for the current best performer in diesel consumption, incidentally another Volkswagen, the Polo TDI Bluemotion averages 3,1 liters/100km, while its gas brother, the TSI Bluemotion, averages 4.1 l/100kms AND is more powerful than the diesel version (95PS vs 75 PS).

So, 16 years after, the diesel advantage has dropped to only one liter in consumption and is now behind its gasoline counterpart in power...And the Polo TSI Bluemotion isn't even the most fuel sipping gas model, to my knowledge, they are the Kolin brothers (Peugeot 108, Citröen C1 and Toyota Aygo) and Fiat 500 Twinair, with 3,8l.

Best Diesel Sipping car on the road: 1999 VW Lupo TDI 3L

So, what happened to diesels to win in the 90's and how did gasoline engines recovered since then?

Same answer to both: Turbos for power and direct injection for consumption.

Turbos became standard with diesel engines in the 90's, and with the addition of direct injection by the end of the decade, diesel engines ended the decade far more advanced and nicer to drive than gas engines, which were generally still relying on atmospheric engines, with low torque and high fuel consumption.

Comparing the european staple for regular cars, in 1999 the average VW Golf TDI had 110 PS/235Nm and made 4.9l/100kms, while its gas brother (1.6) had 101 PS/145Nm and averaged 7.5l/100kms!

So, more power, (much) more torque and saving 2.6 liters per 100 kilometers, there wasn't much discussion on which fuel people should choose, resulting in historic diesel sales throughout the European continent, with consumers growing accustomed to them.

But then the XXI century came and with it, a more environmental awareness across the globe, leading manufacturers to finally start to developing gasoline engines (The leading fuel outside Europe), including equipping them with turbos and direct injection, which lead gas engines to outpace the performance improvements that their diesel counterparts did during the same timeline.

Let's look back at the same average Golf, now in 2015: The 1.6TDI has 110 PS/250 Nm and averages 3.4l/100kms, while its gas competitor 1.0TSI has 115 PS/200 Nm and averages...4.3 liters.

In 16 years, if the diesel version stagnated performance-wise, at least saved 1.5l in fuel consumption, all while the gas version improved its record performance-wise AND at the same time decreased fuel consumption by 3.2 liters! 

So, both are at the same level of performance, while the diesel saves 0.9 liters in every 100 kilometers, but it is also more expensive. Mmmm...Not so easy now, eh?

The Good Ol' Days...

Thanks for the History lesson, but what does it have to do with plug-in vehicles and the current VW emissions case?

This introduction was needed to realize why was Volkswagen so desperate to promote "Clean Diesel" to US consumers that they deliberately tried to cheat regulators and consumers alike, during several years Volkswagen, and european carmakers in general, relied on diesel engines to power their vehicles, disregarding gas engines and leaving alternative technologies, like hybrids and electrics, in the back seat.

But a few years ago, in the US and elsewhere, hybrids became mainstream and plug-in cars were turning out to be the Next Cool Thing, and VW was behind Toyota, Tesla, Nissan and others alike, while even in Europe gas engines were starting to recover ground, with Toyota hybrids leading the way.

VW had to react, but their technology on altenative fuels was years behind, so as an instant band aid to stop the sales bleeding, the german automakers came up with "Clean Diesel" and marketed it as another alternative fuel source, like hybrids or plug-in cars. 

Only, they weren't and we are now at this turning point.

Is this the time you start talking about the impact this has on EV's?

Yes, it is.

Besides the instant impact this has on the Volkswagen Group sales, and the incoming nightmare of lawsuits, fines, buybacks, etc, the lasting results of this will be that we might be witnessing the beggining of the end of the diesel engine era, a sort of meteor that has hit the earth and will lead to their extinction in a few years.

Looking a few years ahead, after Volkswagen (And possibly others) had paid millions to recover from their misdemeanors, diesel engines will have been so discredited that most consumers will prefer other fuel sources for their vehicles (Like electric...) and legislators will want them to be banned from larger urban areas so, especially in Europe, this year might signal the beggining of a escalation for a shift into cleaner fuel sources.

But back to VW, in the middle of all the doom and gloom, this situation has a hidden opportunity for Volkswagen Group, despite being outrageously high priced, their plug-in car sales place VAG as the #2 Automotive Group in the World this year! That's right, Renault-Nissan is #1, with some 50k units, followed by VAG with 32k and BYD, with 31k.

Now, imagine if VW actually tried to sell their plug-ins and on top of that, if it lowered prices to a reasonable level...

What about Tesla? *

I think this will a blessing and a curse at the same time, for the Palo Alto manufacturer:

On the positive side, there will be more buyers willing to trade their diesel-burning powerful-long-journey-bruisers for a clean variety of them, like, say...A Tesla Model S / X, so good news here.

But on the longer term, as more and more buyers turn into Tesla (Especially), (Lexus) hybrids, the several PHEV's arriving soon, or even Fuel Cells, the R&D of established luxury makers will have their eyes definetely set on Tesla and the recent Tesla-Killer concepts from Porsche, Audi, Mercedes, etc will become their #1 priority, enabling them to arrive at showrooms sooner than later, stealing time for Tesla to grow and face them head on, remember, Tesla currently sells 50.000 units against million-plus from each of the Three Marys (Audi, BMW and Mercedes), it's like comparing a baby croc to three adult specimens...

So, to summarize it, regarding EV's, this can only be a good thing, regarding Tesla, in the short term it is a blessing, but could become a curse in the long run.

* - Final question of most of our readers regarding this matter

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Developing safety-critical systems? This book is for you

In-depth volume covers development of systems under the IEC 61508, ISO 26262, EN 50128, and IEC 62304 standards

Paul Leroux

In June, I told you of an upcoming book by my colleague Chris Hobbs, who works as a software safety specialist here at QNX Software Systems. Well, I’m happy to say that the book is now available. It’s called Embedded Software Development for Safety-Critical Systems and it explores design practices for building medical devices, railway control systems, industrial control systems, and, of course, automotive ADAS devices.

The book:

• covers the development of safety-critical systems under ISO 26262, IEC 61508, EN 50128, and IEC 62304
• helps developers learn how to justify their work to external auditors
• discusses the advantages and disadvantages of architectural and design practices recommended in the standards, including replication and diversification, anomaly detection, and so-called “safety bag” systems
• examines the use of open-source components in safety-critical systems

Interested? I invite to you to visit the CRC Press website, where you can view the full Table of Contents and, of course, order the book.

Looking forward to getting my copy!

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Austria August 2015

Austria: Next battle to breakdown the establishment?

PHEV's Included Edition

Now with some PHEV data available, allows us to have a more complete picture of the current EV scene in Austria, last month sales were up 78%, with sales on track to beat last year result (1.772 units) and establish a new all time record, will we see it reach the 2.000 units?

Looking at the models ranking, the Model S saw its sales fall 60% regarding July, but still, the 42 units registered placed it above the Mercedes E-Class (41 units last month), placing the american car in Third on the E-Segment/Full Size class, only behind the BMW 5-Series (127 units) and Audi A6 (123). Not bad...

Looking elsewhere, the BMW i3 and Renault Zoe are continuing a long lasting race between the two, only this time is for #2 and the Nissan Leaf might still have a word on it.

 The manufacturers ranking shows Tesla in First (25% Share), with Renault in Second (17%), and BMW in Third (14%), although the last place in the podium might soon change, as #4 Nissan (13%) and VW (12%) too close for the bavarian automaker to rest. 

Pl	Austria	Aug.	YTD	%	'14Pl
1	Tesla Model S	42	322	25	4
2 3	Renault Zoe BMW i3	19 12	172 147	13 11	1 2
4	Nissan Leaf	16	140	11	5
5	Volkswagen e-Golf e)	10	108	8	11
6 7 8	Kia Soul EV e) Renault Twizy Volkswagen e-Up! e)	10 4 5	67 57 49	5 4 4	14 8 3
9 10 10 10 10	Mercedes B-Class ED e) BMW i8 Audi A3 e-Tron e) Mitsu Outlander PHEV e) Volvo V60 Plug-In e)	5 2 5 5 5	46 44 40 40 40	4 3 3  3  3	N/A N/A N/A  8  6
13	Smart Fortwo ED		36	3	9
14	Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia		21	2	12
15	Porsche 918	4	13	1	N/A
16 16 18 19 19	Mitsubishi I-Miev Volkswagen XL1 Ford Focus Electric Citröen C-Zero Peugeot iOn	2 1	3 3 2 1 1	0 0 0  0 0	13 N/A 15 N/A  N/A
	TOTAL	142	1.312	100

Source: Best Selling Cars Blog

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