Belgium February 2017

Mercedes GLC350e the new darling of the Belgian market

February continued with the positive trend in Belgium, with 753 passenger cars wearing a Plug being registered, up 17% YoY, pulling the EV Share at 1.8%.

SUV's continue to be the Trend du Jour, with Belgians confirming their love for German brands and SUV's, the Mercedes GLC350e won for the first time in February the Best Seller of the Month award, with a record 117 units, while climbing to Second Place in the YTD ranking, thus displacing the BMW X5 to the lowest position in the podium.

But is wasn't all bad news for the Bavarian automaker, both the BMW i3 and 225xe Atc. Tourer climbed one position, at the expense of the Audi Q7 e-Tron (26 sales, worst performance in six months), that dropped four positions to #9.

Looking elsewhere, the ageing Nissan Leaf registered 45 units, its best result in nine months, which proves once again the resilience on the Japanese model, allowing it to climb to positions, to #10, last month.

In the manufacturers ranking, last year leader BMW is firm in the leadership, with 37% (Up 3%), while Mercedes (18%, up 2%) benefited from the popularity of its midsize SUV and surpassed Volvo (16%, down 4%) in the race for Second Place.

Pl	Belgium	Feb.	YTD	%	'16Pl
1	Volvo XC90 T8	78	277	15	1
2	Mercedes GLC350e	117	225	12	12
3 4	BMW X5 40e BMW 330e	66 63	204 134	11 7	2 5
5	Porsche Cayenne Plug-In	35	102	6	3
6	BMW i3 *	47	100	5	8
7	BMW 225xe Active Tourer	48	97	5	6
8	Tesla Model S	50	90	5	4
9	Audi Q7 e-Tron	26	86	5	10
10	Nissan Leaf	45	72	4	7
11	BMW 740e	24	61	3	17
12 13 14 14 16 17 18 18 19	Tesla Model X Mercedes GLE500e Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV Volkswagen Passat GTE Toyota Prius PHEV Renault Zoe Mercedes S500e Mercedes C350e Mercedes E350e	13 22 21 14 8 14 8 12 8	48 46 35 35 32 30 23 23 20	3 3 2 2 2 2 1 1 1	16 9 15 13 24 14 25 11 N/A
21 22 22	Audi A3 e-Tron BMW i8 Volvo V60 Plug-In	6 3 7	16 15 15	1 1 1	19 20 18
24 25 25 27 28 28 30 30	Mercedes B250e Hyundai Ioniq Electric Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia Kia Soul EV Volkswagen e-Up! Kia Optima PHEV Porsche Panamera Plug-In Peugeot iOn Others	2 2 3 3 3 3 1 1	9 7 7 4 3 3 2 2 4	0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	23 35 21 30 32 39 27 20
	TOTAL	753	1.827	100

Source: FEBIAC

* - 27 Bev + 20 Rex

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Belgium January 2017

SUV-Fest Edition in Record Month

January was record month in Belgium, with 1.047 passenger cars wearing a plug, with the hot sales trend continuing in 2017, with sales up 50% YoY, pulling the EV Share once again to record heights, at 2.08%.

But growth wasn't balanced between BEVs and PHEVs, while the firsts have grown at a 13% rate, the seconds grew at a 59%, to 905 units, or a mammoth 84% of the market. Reminding of someone?...

At this rhythm, i believe it will be a question of time until someone in the Belgian government wakes up for this and cuts PHEV incentives for companies, just like the northern neighbor did recently.

SUV's continue to be the Trend du Jour, with 5 out of the top 6 places in January belonging to such vehicles: The Volvo XC90 PHEV (199 units, best result in 11 months) won another Monthly Best-Seller trophy, followed by the arch rival BMW X5 PHEV (138 units) and the surprising Mercedes GLC350e (108 units, personal best), while in #4 we have the fleet-friendly BMW 330e, with 71 units. In #5 we have the Porsche Cayenne Plug-in (67 units), followed by the Audi Q7 e-Tron (60), another model that seems destined for success in this market.

Next to all these shiny, trendy SUV's, the BMW sedan almost looks pedestrian...

Looking elsewhere, the Toyota Prius PHEV registered its best result EVER, with 24 units, which could mean that the first demonstration units of the Second Generation have arrived and the local importer is betting heavily in it. On the other hand, the Mercedes C350e (11 units) had its worst result in over a year, no doubt suffering from the arrival of its SUV sibling, the GLC. Another proof that Belgians love SUVs...

In the manufacturers ranking, last year leader BMW started in the leadership, with 34%, while Volvo (20%) ended in Second and Mercedes (16%) in Third.

Pl	Belgium	Jan.	YTD	%	'16Pl
1	Volvo XC90 T8	199	199	19	1
2	BMW X5 40e	138	138	13	2
3 4	Mercedes GLC350e BMW 330e	108 71	108 71	10 7	12 5
5	Porsche Cayenne Plug-In	67	67	6	3
6	Audi Q7 e-Tron	60	60	6	10
7	BMW i3 *	53	53	5	8
8	BMW 225xe Active Tourer	49	49	5	6
9	Tesla Model S	40	40	4	4
10	BMW 740e	37	37	3	17
11	Tesla Model X	35	35	3	16
12 13 13 15 16 17 18 19 19	Nissan Leaf Mercedes GLE500e Toyota Prius PHEV Volkswagen Passat GTE Renault Zoe Mercedes S500e Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV Mercedes E350e BMW i8	27 24 24 21 16 15 14 12 12	27 24 24 21 16 15 14 12 12	3 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1	7 9 24 13 14 25 15 N/A 20
21 22 23	Mercedes C350e Audi A3 e-Tron Volvo V60 Plug-In	11 10 8	11 10 8	1 1 1	11 19 18
24 25 26 27 28 28 28 28 28	Mercedes B250e Hyundai Ioniq Electric Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia Porsche Panamera Plug-In Citröen e-Mehari  Volkswagen e-Golf Kia Soul EV Peugeot iOn Volksvagen Golf GTE	7 5 4 2 1 1 1 1 1	7 5 4 2 1 1 1 1 1	1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	23 35 21 27 34 29 30 31 22
	TOTAL	1.047	1.047	100

Source: FEBIAC

* - 31 Bev + 22 Rex

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Belgium December 2016

Volvo XC90 T8 wins SUV race in hot market 

2016 was a record year in Belgium, with almost 10.000 plug-ins sold, up 146% YoY, confirming it as one of the hottest markets in the world, with the EV Share ending at 1.8%, a stark departure from the 0.8% of last year.

If there was one word phrase to define the Belgian plug-in market in 2016, it would be "PHEV Luxury SUV", as all podium positions went to that class, with the Volvo XC90 winning Gold (1.584 units), the BMW X5 (1.282) Silver and the Porsche Cayenne (807) Bronze.

Within the Top 10 there is room for another two representatives of that class, with the rising star Audi Q7 e-Tron ending in #10 and the Mercedes GLE500e in #9, making it five PHEV Luxury SUV's in the Top 10. In Belgium. Not Switzerland, Belgium.

Looking at the remaining 2016 positions, the BMW 330e climbed to #5, becoming the Rookie of the Year, the 2015 Best Seller Tesla Model S was down to Fourth, but remained the Best Selling BEV, while the #8 BMW i3 was the Best Selling Small Car doubling the sales of the Renault Zoe, Second Placed of this class.

In the manufacturers ranking, leader BMW (31%) won the top spot, followed by Volvo (18%) in Second and Mercedes (11%), ahead of Tesla and Porsche, both with 9% share.

This is BMW's first Belgian title, following on Porsche (2015) and Tesla (2014).

Looking at the BEV/PHEV breakdown, Belgium's plug-in growth is heavily influenced by PHEV-friendly legislation plug-ins hybrids, with this technology increasing their share in 2016 to 74%, up 21%(!) regarding the previous year. 

Final mention to the nine registrations of the Toyota Mirai, seven more than in 2015, will we see it reach 25 units during 2017? (Sarcasm detector off) It's ambitious, but possible, don't you think? 

Pl	Belgium	Dec.	YTD	%	'15Pl
1	Volvo XC90 T8	84	1.584	17	13
2	BMW X5 40e	74	1.282	13	15
3 4	Porsche Cayenne Plug-In Tesla Model S	34 76	807 675	8 7	2 1
5	BMW 330e	45	511	5	N/A
6	BMW 225xe Active Tourer	26	505	5	N/A
7	Nissan Leaf	22	466	5	8
8	BMW i3 *	41	430	4	3
9	Mercedes GLE500e	18	311	3	27
10	Audi Q7 e-Tron	56	306	3	N/A
11	Mercedes C350e	14	283	3	16
12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20	Mercedes GLC350e Volkswagen Passat GTE Renault Zoe Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV Tesla Model X BMW 740e Volvo V60 Plug-In Audi A3 e-Tron BMW i8	37 16 8 8 56 16 8 15 3	253 216 210 192 184 149 142 138 106	3 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1	N/A 33 18 6 N/A N/A 4 7 9
21 22 23 24	Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia Volkswagen Golf GTE Mercedes B250e Toyota Prius Plug-In	9 4 4 6	103 99 96 94	1 1 1 1	21 5 11 25
25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35	Mercedes S500e Renault Twizy Porsche Panamera Plug-In Renault Kangoo ZE  Volkswagen e-Golf Kia Soul EV Peugeot iOn Volkswagen e-Up! Citroen C-Zero Citröen e-Mehari Hyundai Ioniq Electric Others	5 4 1 3 6 1 1 4 2 3 3	81 80 57 52 44 29 24 20 16 11 10 29	1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	14 15 10 N/A 17 23 20 21 24 N/A N/A
	TOTAL	714	9.595	100

Source: FEBIAC

* - 23 Bev + 18 Rex

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Belgium October 2016

Podium bearers

SUV-Fest Edition

October was a near-record month in Belgium, with 926 units, with the hot sales trend continuing for yet another month, with the EV Share up once again to a record 1.86%, a stark departure from the 0.7% of last year.

As usual, SUV's are the Trend du Jour, with 5 out of the top 6 places in October belonging to such vehicles: The BMW X5 PHEV (121 units) won another Monthly Best-Seller trophy, its fourth in a row, followed by the arch rival Volvo XC90 T8 (103 units) and the rising star Audi Q7 e-Tron (82, personal best), while in #4 we have the fleet-friendly BMW 330e, with 71 units. In #5 we have the Porsche Cayenne Plug-in (67 units), followed by the Mercedes GLC350e (64, pb), another model that seems destined for success in this market.

Next to all these shiny, trendy SUV's, the BMW sedan almost looks pedestrian...

Looking at the YTD ranking, the BMW 225xe Act. Tourer climbed to #5, switching positions with the Nissan Leaf, while the Mercedes GLE500e (53 units, pb) rose to #9, dropping its C350e sibling to #10. Once again, SUV's are on the rise...

...And underlining the never-ending appetite for SUV's, the Audi Q7 e-Tron was up to #13, while the Mercedes GLC350e jumped to #15.

Another model with a great start is the BMW 740e, which scored 39 units in October, rising to #19 after just three months on the market. The Bimmer should prove popular near a certain Berlaymont building...

In the manufacturers ranking, leader BMW (31%, up 1%) continues to increase share, while Volvo (20%, down 1%) is Second. There is an interesting race for Third Place, with Porsche (10%), Mercedes (10%) and Tesla (8%) all running for the last place of the podium.

Looking at the BEV/PHEV breakdown, Belgium is starting to look more and more like the Netherlands, with plug-in hybrids increasing their share to 75%, up 22%(!) regarding last year. 

Pl	Belgium	Oct.	YTD	%	'15Pl
1	Volvo XC90 T8	103	1.399	17	13
2	BMW X5 40e	121	1.120	14	15
3 4	Porsche Cayenne Plug-In Tesla Model S	67 23	724 554	9 7	2 1
5	BMW 225xe Active Tourer	46	419	5	N/A
6	Nissan Leaf	22	415	5	8
7	BMW 330e	71	396	5	N/A
8	BMW i3	52	336	4	3
9	Mercedes GLE500e	53	269	3	27
10	Mercedes C350e	18	257	3	16
11	Renault Zoe	26	190	2	18
12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20	Volkswagen Passat GTE Audi Q7 e-Tron Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV Mercedes GLC350e Volvo V60 Plug-In Tesla Model X Audi A3 e-Tron BMW 740e BMW i8	23 82 5 64 16 14 11 39 3	188 179 176 157 114 113 112 108 97	2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1	33 N/A 6 N/A 4 N/A 7 N/A 9
21 22 23	Volkswagen Golf GTE Mercedes B250e Toyota Prius Plug-In	7 5 18	89 86 84	1 1 1	5 11 25
24 24 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34	Mercedes S500e Renault Twizy Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia Porsche Panamera Plug-In Renault Kangoo ZE  Volkswagen e-Golf Kia Soul EV Peugeot iOn Citroen C-Zero Volkswagen e-Up! Citröen e-Mehari Others	5 11 5 2 2 2 3 3 4	73 73 70 56 46 36 27 21 14 13 10 25	1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	14 15 21 10 N/A 17 23 20 24 21 N/A
	TOTAL	926	8.046	100

Source: FEBIAC

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Belgium September 2016

The Three SUV's Of the Apocalipse that lead the Belgian EV market

Records Galore Edition

September was a record month in Belgium, with plug-ins prolonging the 2016 hot sales trend for another month, with 1.006 units, up 224%(!), with the EV Share up to a record 1.7%, a stark departure from the 0.7% of last year.

As usual in this fashion-victim market, trendy Tesla and SUV's continue to rule, with 6 out of the top 7 places in September belonging to such vehicles: The BMW X5 PHEV (170 units, personal record) won another Monthly Best-Seller trophy, followed by the arch rival Volvo XC90 T8 (132 units) and the Tesla Model S (74), while tied in #4 we have the Tesla Model X and BMW 330e, with 72 units. In #6 we have the Porsche Cayenne Plug-in (67 units), followed by the Audi Q7 e-Tron (58), another model that seems destined for success in this market.

Next to all these shiny & trendy plug-ins, the BMW sedan almost looks like a plebeian...

Looking at the YTD ranking, no surprises in the top positions, we have to go down to #12 to see some changes, with the VW Passat GTE (22 units) rising one position to #12, but the headline news are the Tesla Model X shooting 13 positions to #15 and the Audi Q7 e-Tron up 9 positions to #17

Underlining the never-ending appetite of this market for SUV's, the Mercedes GLC350e (34 units, pb) was also up, to #19.

Another model with a great start is the BMW 740e, which scored 51 units, with only two months on the market, is already ahead of the F-segment, leaving the Merc S500e to shame...

In the manufacturers ranking, leader BMW (30%, up 1%) continues to increase share, while Volvo (20%) is Second. There is an interesting race for Third Place, with Porsche (10%), Mercedes (10%) and Tesla (9%) all running for the last place of the podium.

Looking at the BEV/PHEV breakdown, Belgium is starting to look more and more like the Netherlands, with plug-in hybrids increasing their share to 74%, up 21%(!) regarding last year. 

Pl	Belgium	Sept.	YTD	%	'15Pl
1	Volvo XC90 T8	132	1.296	18	13
2	BMW X5 40e	170	999	14	15
3 4	Porsche Cayenne Plug-In Tesla Model S	67 74	657 531	9 7	2 1
5	Nissan Leaf	22	393	6	8
6	BMW 225xe Active Tourer	40	373	5	N/A
7	BMW 330e	72	325	5	N/A
8	BMW i3 *	37	284	4	3
9	Mercedes C350e	18	239	3	16
10	Mercedes GLE500e	22	216	3	27
11	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	13	171	2	6
12 13 14 15 16 17 18	Volkswagen Passat GTE Renault Zoe Audi A3 e-Tron Tesla Model X Volvo V60 Plug-In Audi Q7 e-Tron BMW i8	22 11 2 72 9 58 10	165 164 101 99 98 97 94	2 2 1 1 1 1 1	33 18 7 N/A 4 N/A 9
19 20 21 22 23	Mercedes GLC350e Volkswagen Golf GTE Mercedes B250e BMW 740e Mercedes S500e	34 9 8 51 2	93 82 81 69 68	1 1 1 1 1	N/A 5 11 N/A 14
24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34	Toyota Prius Plug-In Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia ** Renault Twizy Porsche Panamera Plug-In Renault Kangoo ZE  Volkswagen e-Golf Kia Soul EV Peugeot iOn Citroen C-Zero Volkswagen e-Up! Citröen e-Mehari Others	20 6 12 1 1 2 2 4 1 2	66 65 62 56 44 34 25 18 14 13 7 21	1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	25 21 15 10 N/A 17 23 20 24 21 N/A
	TOTAL	1.006	7.120	100

Source: FEBIAC

* - 21 Bev + 16 Rex
** - 3 Pass + 3 LCV

Plug-Ins Versus Regular Hybrids

Pl	Model	Sept. 2016
1	Toyota RAV4 Hybrid	277
2	Toyota Auris Hybrid	249
3	BMW X5 40e	170
4	Toyota Yaris Hybrid	152
5	Volvo XC90 T8	132

If we combine September regular hybrid sales with plug-ins, the Toyota Hybrids lost the last place of the podium to the BMW X5 PHEV, while the trendiest of the Toyota's, the RAV4, retained highest place of the ranking.

Last month there was a second plug-in joining this Top 5, with the Volvo XC90 T8 reaching the Fifth Place, ahead of the Toyota Prius (112 units).

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Belgium August 2016

Running Hot 

August is usually a slow selling month in Belgium, as locals enjoy the Summer time, but this time, plug-in sales were hot, with 726 units, up 151%(!), with the EV Share up to 1.6%.

As usual, AWD vehicles continue to top the ranking, with all Top 5 places in August belonging to such vehicles: The BMW X5 PHEV (78 units) this time was the Monthly Best-Seller, followed by another Bimmer, the 225xe Act. Tourer (65), while the Volvo XC90 T8 (58) ended in Third and the Tesla Model S and Porsche Cayenne PHEV (56) were tied in #5. With this kind of company, the BMW MPV almost looks like a Working-class-hero...

Looking at the YTD ranking, no surprises in the top positions, we have to go down to the Seventh Place to see some changes, with the BMW 330e (53 units, pb) rising two positions to #7, while at the same time managing to surpass its arch-rival Mercedes C350e and become the best selling plug-in of the D-segment/midsize class.

Speaking of midsize cars, last year winner, the Volvo V60 Plug-in, that was somewhere lost in combat, jumped five positions to #15, thanks to a surprising 39 units, it's best result since last November.

Underlining the never-ending appetite of this market for SUV's, the two models with highest rises in the ranking are two recent additions to that class: The Audi Q7 e-Tron rose one position to #26, while the Mercedes GLC350e did even better, jumping three positions to #23.

Two new (And expensive) models have arrived with a bang, the Tesla Model X reached Belgian shores with an impressive 27 units score, the best debut month ever by a model in Belgium, while the BMW 740e also landed with a surprising 18 units, in unrelated news, its Mercedes S500e rival registered 4 units, its worst performance in a year...

In the manufacturers ranking, leader BMW (29%, up 1%) continues to increase share, while Volvo (20%, down 1%) is continuously dropping share. Thankfully for the Swede, the Third Placed Porsche (11%) and #4 Mercedes (10%) are still far.

Looking at the BEV/PHEV breakdown, Belgium is starting to look more and more like the Netherlands in past years, plug-in hybrids have increased their share to 74%, up 21%(!) regarding last year. 

As for FCEV's, in 2016 there were registered 10 units, nine of them being Mirai(?!?), a 150% growth rate regarding 2015, when there were registered a grand total of...4 units.

Pl	Belgium	Aug.	YTD	%	'15Pl
1	Volvo XC90 T8	58	1.164	19	13
2	BMW X5 40e	78	829	14	15
3 4	Porsche Cayenne Plug-In Tesla Model S	56 56	590 457	10 7	2 1
5	Nissan Leaf	20	371	6	8
6	BMW 225xe Active Tourer	65	333	5	N/A
7	BMW 330e	53	252	4	N/A
8	BMW i3 *	32	247	4	3
9	Mercedes C350e	13	221	4	16
10	Mercedes GLE500e	15	194	3	27
11	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	15	158	3	6
12 13 14 15 16	Renault Zoe Volkswagen Passat GTE Audi A3 e-Tron Volvo V60 Plug-In BMW i8	17 32 3 39 11	153 143 99 89 84	3 2 2 1 1	18 33 7 4 9
17 17 19 20	Volkswagen Golf GTE Mercedes B250e Mercedes S500e Mercedes GLC350e	4 9 4 20	73 73 66 59	1 1 1 1	5 11 14 N/A
20 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 32 34 35 35	Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia ** Porsche Panamera Plug-In Renault Twizy Toyota Prius Plug-In Renault Kangoo ZE  Audi Q7 e-Tron Volkswagen e-Golf Tesla Model X Kia Soul EV BMW 740e Peugeot iOn Citroen C-Zero Volkswagen e-Up! Citröen e-Mehari Citroen Berlingo EV Smart Fortwo ED Others	10 3 4 17 13 19 1 27 4 18 3 1 3 1 1 1	59 55 50 46 43 39 32 27 23 18 14 13 13 7 6 6 7	1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	21 10 15 25 N/A N/A 17 N/A 23 N/A 20 24 21 N/A N/A 19
	TOTAL	726	6.113	100

Source: FEBIAC

* - 18 Bev + 14 Rex
** - 1 Pass + 9 LCV

Plug-Ins Versus Regular Hybrids

Pl	Model	Aug. 2016
1	Toyota RAV4 Hybrid	174
2	Toyota Auris Hybrid	165
3	Toyota Yaris Hybrid	137
4	Toyota Prius	94
5	BMW X5 40e	78

If we combine August regular hybrid sales with plug-ins, the Toyota Hybrids have the top positions all to themselves, with its compact SUV (The trend du jour) RAV4 ending in #1, followed by the Auris and the smaller Yaris.

Even the Toyota Prius managed to reach #4, with 94 units, it seems that locals have already digested the interesting looks of the former poster child of Green Mobility.
The best selling plug-in was only Fifth, with the BMW X5 PHEV collecting 78 units.

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