Automotive
Outlander PHEV Number One
For the first time ever, the Japanese EV market saw its sales decrease, with sales down 22% regarding last year, going back to the sales level of 2012.
Besides low gas prices, another reason for this is the late arrival of the 30kWh version of the Nissan Leaf, which leaded customers to wait for the new version, thus hurting sales (9.057 units, worst performance ever), leaving Nissan's electric hatch out of the leadership by a wide margin and allowing the Outlander PHEV to win its first Best Selling EV title in its home market, and for Mitsubishi to recover the Best Selling Manufacturer trophy (Its fourth, after those won in 2009, 2010 and 2013), after losing in 2014 to the arch-rival Nissan.
Below these two, the runout-mode Prius Plug-In won its third consecutive Bronze Medal, while Mitsu's pure-electric products have continued to see their sales slow down over the years, with the I-Miev, Minicab Miev and Minicab Miev Truck sales dropping 75% regarding their all-time highs.
On the contrary, the foreign models are slowly climbing positions and it won't be surprising to see the BMW i3 reach #3 in 2016.
| Pl | Japan | December | 2015 | % | Pl '14 |
| 1 | Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV | 518 | 10.996 | 43 | 2 |
| 2 | Nissan Leaf | 1.019 | 9.057 | 36 | 1 |
| 3 | Toyota Prius Plug-In e) | 30 | 1.436 | 6 | 3 |
| 4 | BMW i3 e) | 100 | 1.200 | 5 | 6 |
| 5 | Mitsubishi I-Miev | 35 | 634 | 3 | 4 |
| 6 7 8 9 10 10 | Tesla Model S e) Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia e Mitsubishi Minicab Miev Mit. Minicab Miev Truck BMW i8 e) Honda Accord Plug-In | 100 50 21 11 5 | 614 600 501 161 60 45 | 2 2 2 1 0 0 | 7 N/A 5 8 10 9 |
| TOTAL | 1.909 | 25.328 | 100 |
e) Estimate
Source:http://evn.blog.eonet.jp; insideevs.com
