Germany September 2014

The Smart ED almost reached the 200 units mark

The Old Smart Lady Still Can Pull Some Tricks Edition

The German EV Market registered 1.099 units, pulling the EV Share up to 0,46%, twice as much as last year result (0,23%).

This market has a tradition of different monthly leaders along the year, and this September was no different, with the Two Times (2010 & 2013) Best Seller Of the Year veteran Smart Fortwo ED performing its best result of the year (186 units), showing newcomers that it still has stock clearance  some tricks up its sleeve, winning at the same time its first monthly leadership of the year.

Next we have the Nissan Leaf, with 176 units, its best result since July '13, while in Third there's the BMW i3, selling just 131 units, worst result of the year (Probably a production constraint, now that the US market is drunk in love for the bavarian hatch), followed in #4 by the Outlander PHEV (91 units) and in #5 we have the Renault Zoe, a frequent appearance in the monthly Top 5.

Pl	Model	Sales
1	Smart Fortwo ED	186
2	Nissan Leaf	176
3	BMW i3	131
4	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	91
5	Renault Zoe	78

Looking at the YTD ranking, the Nissan Leaf was up one position to #6, at the expense of the Tesla Model S, that just can't seem to find its place in the German market.

At the middle of the ranking, the Mitsu I-Miev climbed one position to #15, whereas the Opel Ampera was down to #16...And to think that just last year the Opel PHEV ended at #6 and in 2012 it was even runner-up to the Twizy!

The Mercedes products are (very) slowly climbing positions, with the B-Class ED #20, with 27 units sold until now, while the S500 Plug-In is #22. The B-Class performance in particular looks particularly poor, after the same three months on sale, the technologically more complex BMW i3 had already sold 151 units, a case of lack of stock or demand?

The same could be said about the VW and Audi products, apart from the e-Up!, apparently no model is selling accordingly with the large diffusion of both brands in their domestic market, strange, isn't it ?

Pl	Germany	Sept	YTD'14	%	'13 Pl
1	BMW i3	131	1.869	20	5
2	Volkswagen e-Up! e)	60	1.114	12	9
3	Smart Fortwo ED	186	1.023	11	1
4	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	91	844	9	N/A
5	Renault Zoe	78	741	8	2
6	Nissan Leaf	176	672	7	3
7	Tesla Model S	56	576	6	8
8	Renault Twizy e)	60	525	6	4
9	Volkswagen e-Golf e)	63	422	5	N/A
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 16 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31	Volvo V60 Plug-In Audi A3 e-Tron BMW i8 Toyota Prius Plug-In Porsche Panamera Plug-In Mitsubishi I-Miev Opel Ampera Volkswagen Golf GTE  Renault Kangoo ZE Peugeot iOn Mercedes B-Class ED Citröen C-Zero Mercedes S500 Plug-In Ford Focus Electric Volvo C30 Electric Kia Soul EV Chevrolet Volt Nissan e-NV200 Porsche Cayenne Plug-In Citröen Berlingo Electrique Renault Fluence ZE Volkswagen XL1	21 23 64 12 5 15 7 13 1 17 2 9 3 5 1	320 250 224 112 98 94 89 89 33 28 27 26 17 17 17 12 11 9 8 1 1 1	3 3 2 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	11 N/A N/A N/A 16 10 6 N/A N/A 13 N/A 7 N/A 14 N/A N/A 15 N/A N/A N/A 12 N/A
	TOTAL	1.099	9.270	100

Source: kba.de

e) Estimate

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Are you ready to stop micromanaging your car?

I will get to the above question. Honest. But before I do, allow me to pose another one: When autonomous cars go mainstream, will anyone even notice?

The answer to this question depends on how you define the term. If you mean completely and absolutely autonomous, with no need for a steering wheel, gas pedal, or brake pedal, then yes, most people will notice. But long before these devices stop being built into cars, another phenomenon will occur: people will stop using them.

Allow me to rewind. Last week, Tesla announced that its Model S will soon be able to “steer to stay within a lane, change lanes with the simple tap of a turn signal, and manage speed by reading road signs and using traffic-aware cruise control.” I say soon because these functions won't be activated until owners download a software update in the coming weeks. But man, what an update.

Tesla may now be at the front of the ADAS wave, but the wave was already forming — and growing. Increasingly, cars are taking over mundane or hard-to-perform tasks, and they will only become better at them as time goes on. Whether it’s autonomous braking, automatic parking, hill-descent control, adaptive cruise control, or, in the case of the Tesla S, intelligent speed adaptation, cars will do more of the driving and, in so doing, socialize us into trusting them with even more driving tasks.

Tesla Model S: soon with autopilot

In other words, the next car you buy will prepare you for not having to drive the car after that.

You know what’s funny? At some point, the computers in cars will probably become safer drivers than humans. The humans will know it, but they will still clamor for steering wheels, brake pedals, and all the other traditional accoutrements of driving. Because people like control. Or, at the very least, the feeling that control is there if you want it.

It’s like cameras. I would never think of buying a camera that didn’t have full manual mode. Because control! But guess what: I almost never turn the mode selector to M. More often than not, it’s set to Program or Aperture Priority, because both of these semi-automated modes are good enough, and both allow me to focus on taking the picture, not on micromanaging my camera.

What about you? Are you ready for a car that needs a little less micromanagement?

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