Automotive
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| Theme of the month: Snow, |
BMW i3 Best Seller in November
The European EV market had more than 18.500 registrations last month, 5% down over the same month last year, this sales slip has to do with the incentives-derived sales rush in the last quarter of 2015, so expect this trend to continue until December. Last month, the Top Spots remained more or less like in October:
#1 BMW i3 – Thanks to the massive arrival of 33 kWh units to Norway (1.014 units registered), the BMW i3 earned its third Best Seller title in four months, this time with 2.092 units, up 51% YoY. Besides Norway, other markets where the Bimmer excelled was Germany (291 deliveries), France (117) and Austria (97 deliveries, 1 Rex).
#2 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV – This time the Japanese SUV managed to outsell the Renault Zoe, reaching the Second Place last month, with 1.512 units, up 7% regarding October, but Mitsubishi saw the plug-in SUV sales drop 48% YoY, as sales at the end of last year were heavily inflated by incentives changes in the Netherlands and Sweden. Despite the loss on the Dutch market, the Outlander still managed to sell in the three digits area in four countries (Norway, Sweden, Germany and United Kingdom).
#3 Renault Zoe – Registrations were down 30% YoY to 1.438 units, with the mass delivery of the 40 kWh delayed and with buyers waiting for the extended range version, the model in a sort of no-mans-land. With a Tesla-like stunt in December unlikely, the 3.000 units delivered in December ’15 seem pretty far. Last month, good performances in Germany (303 registrations), Denmark (137) and Norway (100) weren’t enough to compensate the slip in its home market (547 units).
#4 VW Passat GTE – Volkswagen midsize offering continues to collect good results, besides the usual Sweden (295 units) and Norway (173), big time Passat GTE lovers, Volkswagen’s model had a great result in the Netherlands, with 363 units, its best result there this year, allowing it to reach the Fourth Position in Europe, with 1.067 units. With the right mix of electric range, space, power and price, the Passat GTE is a success among company fleets across Europe.
#5 Nissan Leaf – Despite being on sale for almost six years and with new updates coming soon, the Japanese hatch was actually up 57% YoY in November, to 1.030 units, with deep discounts propelling sales across Europe and particularly in volume markets like, Norway, UK, Germany and France, proving that, if priced right, small range models can still sell quite well. The irony here is that 250 kms were considered a major improvement just a year ago, now it is considered “Small range”…
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| BMW 225xe Active Tourer |
YTD Ranking – Outlander PHEV closer to the 2016 Best Seller Title
After running ahead for good part of the year and poised to finally win a Best Seller title, the deliveries delay of the 40 kWh units is dragging down the Renault Zoe performance, which dropped to Second Place, 89 units behind the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, that despite seeing its sales drop 24% YoY, still managed enough momentum to surpass the French Hatchback and now is the favorite to win the 2016 title, which will be its Third in a row. This feels like those football matches where one of the teams (Renault) starts as favorite but ends up losing with an own goal in the 85th minute…Now all the other team (Mitsubishi) has to do is to wait a few more minutes and then raise the trophy.
Looking below the podium, the #7 VW Passat GTE is closing in on its smaller brother, the Golf GTE, and December might bring a position change between these two. Keeping on the sibling position changes, the BMW 225xe Active Tourer (828 units, new personal record) surpassed the X5 40e relative and reached #13.
November brought a couple of surprising performances, from the 373 units of the oldtimer Citroen C-Zero (Best result in four years), thanks to a fleet deal in Spain, to the 494 units of the Hyundai Ioniq Electric, a new model that has been receiving a warm welcome in several markets, something that Mercedes is also enjoying with its two new babies, the GLC350e (372 units, up to #27) and E350e (227).
In the manufacturers ranking, BMW cemented its leadership (17%, up 1%) over Volkswagen (15%), with Renault in Third, with 13% share, followed by Nissan (11%) and Mitsubishi (10%).
Pl | Europe | Nov. | 2016 | % | '15Pl |
1 | Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV | 1.512 | 18.804 | 10 | 1 |
2 | Renault Zoe | 1.438 | 18.715 | 10 | 2 |
3 | Nissan Leaf | 1.030 | 17.045 | 9 | 5 |
4 5 | BMW i3 Tesla Model S | 2.092 603 | 13.198 11.095 | 7 6 | 6 4 |
6 7 | Volkswagen Golf GTE Volkswagen Passat GTE | 886 1.067 | 10.071 9.781 | 5 5 | 3 12 |
8 | Mercedes C350e | 693 | 8.377 | 4 | 11 |
9 | Volvo XC90 T8 | 675 | 8.095 | 4 | 18 |
10 | BMW 330e | 982 | 7.302 | 4 | 37 |
11 12 | Volkswagen e-Golf Audi A3 e-Tron | 409 590 | 6.354 5.745 | 3 3 | 4 7 |
13 14 | BMW 225xe Active Tourer BMW X5 40e | 808 371 | 4.986 4.893 | 3 3 | 32 22 |
15 | Kia Soul EV | 274 | 4.064 | 2 | 10 |
16 | Renault Kangoo ZE | 305 | 3.709 | 2 | 13 |
17 | Volvo V60 Plug-In | 420 | 3.272 | 2 | 9 |
18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 | Mercedes B250e Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia Audi Q7 e-Tron Porsche Cayenne Plug-In Tesla Model X Volkswagen e-Up! Renault Twizy Peugeot iOn Citröen C-Zero Mercedes GLC350e BMW i8 Mercedes GLE500e Bolloré Blue Car Others | 327 351 437 220 387 350 157 135 373 372 97 108 1 1.226 | 3.250 2.893 2.687 2.685 2.600 2.224 1.927 1.756 1.564 1.517 1.431 1.262 942 6.780 | 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 4 | 17 15 36 14 N/A 16 19 23 26 N/A 20 35 25 |
TOTAL | 18.696 | 189.024 | 100 |
Article also published on EV Obsession and CleanTechnica.
