World Top 10 May 2013

Mitsubishi EV sales are on hold 

Models - All the same 

May left the ranking like it was last month, with the exception of the bottom place, where Renault recovered the tenth place for the Twizy.

Despite this entry in the Top 10, the french EV has two models following its small tail, with the #11 Chery QQ3 EV and the #12 Ford Fusion Energi less than 100 units behind it, so a lot can happen in June...

Pure electrics continue on the rebound, with BEV share increasing another point to 62% of the market.

Pl	Models	YTD
1	Nissan Leaf	15.728
2	Tesla Model S	8.897
3	Chevrolet Volt (1)	8.628
4	Toyota Prius PHEV	6.782
5	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	4.307
6	Renault Zoe	3.412
7	Mitsubishi I-Miev (2)	2.790
8	Renault Kangoo ZE	2.514
9	Ford C-Max Energi	2.027
10	Renault Twizy	1.267

Manufacturers - Mitsubishi Suffers

In the Manufacturers ranking, Nissan holds its leadership with 24% share, now followed by Tesla at 14% and Chevrolet, with 13%.

Mitsubishi has been hampered by batteries issues and drops to fourth, losing 2% share on the way to 13%.

Behind the seven major players, figures become a bit sketchy as one doesn't know for sure how the chinese brands are behaving, but taking in account confirmed numbers, BYD switches positions with Chery, with the e6 maker now #8, leaving its compatriot in #9 and Smart rounding up the table in #10.

Pl	Brands	YTD
1	Nissan	15.728
2	Tesla	8.907
3	Chevrolet	8.628
4	Mitsubishi	8.446
5	Renault	7.804
6	Toyota	7.178
7	Ford	3.945
8	BYD	1.277
9	Chery (e)	1.250
10	Smart	759

(1) - Includes Holden Volt, Opel and Vauxhall Ampera;
(2) - Includes Citröen C-Zero and Peugeot iOn.
(e) - Estimate


Questions for June

Can the Volt family reach #2?

And can the Zoe reach #5?

Is it possible for the Kangoo ZE to remove the Mitsu I-Miev from the seventh place?

Who gets this time the tenth place in the models ranking?

In the manufacturers ranking, can Chevrolet reach #2?

How many more positions will Mitsubishi lose?

Can BYD hold on to #8?

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Markets Roundup May 2013

Rear of a black Renault Zoe

The Rise of Zoe - World Edition

This month the french hatchback started to arrive in significant numbers to countries other than France and that resulted in three #1's for Renault, in May the Zoe topped the EV charts for the first time in Spain, Italy and Austria, adding that to the top spot it already had in France and brilliants #2 in Germany and #3 (And best selling BEV) in the Netherlands, Renault's supermini recovered the top spot (both monthly and YTD) in Europe, relegating the Nissan Leaf to second place. In June the UK-made Leaf's will start being delivered, so it's to be expected that the japanese hatch bounces back then.

Trends in the G7 (Great Seven)

The US market represented 71% of all plug-in sales in May, some 20% above the usual share, because the japanese market sank this month, with just 924 units, which represented just 21% of sales in February, the causes for this terrible performance was not only Mitsubishi's battery problems, but also the Nissan Leaf selling below expectations (Just 708 units).

Despite this, the japanese EV share is still above last year's (0,84% vs 0,77%), just like in six of the seven major markets, with a welcome recovery of the dutch market, now slightly above '12 share (1,104% vs 1,103%). Even Germany, the only country with an lower EV share in '13, is slowly recovering and it's now standing at 0,14%.

Ruining our month theme, here are the e6 taxis involved in the Hong Kong deal 

Other Markets

Italy (165 units), Austria (53 units) and Hong Kong (55 units) registered the best selling months of the year, with the asian market scoring also an all-time record, thanks to a BYD Taxi fleet deal, and already breaking the sales record of 2012 (89 units), ending May with a total of 99 EV's sold in 2013.

Speaking of record breaking, the other country to beat this year the sales record is tiny Iceland, that already sold 21 plug-in cars this year, beating last year's record of 18 units, with the Toyota Prius Plug-In also beating the 2012 record for best selling model (Mitsu I-Miev - 7 units) by 2 units, establishing for now the new record in 9 units sold. Small numbers, so plenty of space for improvement here.

Chevrolet Spark EV painted in black: Will the GM model be more than a compliance car?

Questions for June

Will the Chevrolet Spark EV beat all compliance cars in its sales debut?

Can the Nissan Leaf recover the lead in the Euro market?

Will the Zoe reach #1 in Germany?

Can Volvo recover the top spot in its home market?

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