Germany January 2015

Will 2015 be "The Empire Strikes Back" Year?

Golf GTE Superstar Edition

In what seems to be a trend for this year, the VW Golf GTE started the year in First Place, with a record 253 units, with VW winning for the first time the Best-Seller title in its Vaterland: Will this mean that in the future, the German EV ranking will be as boring (Golf in #1 since the Jurassic) as the regular ICE is? 

The total 1.245 EV's sold this January bode well for the rest of the year, almost doubling the result (690 sales) made twelve months ago. 

The regular VW e-Golf also had a good result (132 units), almost grabbing the Second Spot, that went for the BMW i3, with 138 units, with insiders saying that the bavarian manufacturer is sacrificing its home market in order to fulfill others (Aka, the USA) which are more insatiable (And profitable)  for the i-sub-brand.

In #4 we have a surprise, with the Kia Soul EV selling 129 units, a new personal best by a long shot (The previous record was 12 units), which seems to indicate the Koreans are into electric cars for real and they will be a force to be reckoned in the near future.

Deep down in the ranking, we have a newcomer, the Passat GTE has landed and is ready to help the VW mothership to finally take over its domestic market.

By the way, on the manufacturers ranking, Volkswagen ascended to the Top Spot for the first time, with 33% share, followed by BMW (15%) and... Kia (10%).

Pl	Germany	Jan.	YTD'15	%	'14 Pl
1	Volkswagen Golf GTE	253	253	20	13
2	BMW i3 *	138	138	11	1
3	Volkswagen e-Golf	132	132	11	8
4	Kia Soul EV	129	129	10	28
5	Renault Zoe	98	98	8	3
6	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	73	73	6	5
7	Smart Fortwo ED	64	64	5	2
8	Tesla Model S	57	57	5	6
9	Audi A3 e-Tron	52	52	4	10
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 17 19 20 21 22 23	BMW i8 Mercedes B-Class ED Volvo V60 Plug-In Nissan Leaf Porsche Cayenne Plug-In Volkswagen e-Up! Mercedes S500 Plug-In Toyota Prius Plug-In Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia Porsche Panamera Plug-In Volkswagen Passat GTE Peugeot iOn Mitsubishi I-Miev Ford Focus Electric	46 42 29 27 24 23 15 12 12 9 4 3 2 1	46 42 29 27 24 23 15 12 12 9 4 3 2 1	4 3 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0	11 16 12 7 19 4 20 15 21 14 N/A 23 17 26
	TOTAL	1.245	1.245	100

* - 68 Bev + 70 Rex

Source: kba.de

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Norway January 2015

e-Golf Superstar Edition

Just like in a Fringe episode, if in the PHEV capital of the world, Amsterdam, there was a surge in sales this January, in Oslo, BEV capital, there was also an unexpected rise in sales, with a plug-in VW Golf rising to #1 in both markets. But looking with closer attention, there are differences, while in the Dutch market the sporty Golf GTE steals the show, in Norway it's the more moderate e-Golf calling the shots, with an amazing 879 units, the best result for a single model since the historic performance (1.493 units) of the Model S last March, this result is due to VW (finally) realising that it would be nice to sell the e-Golf with a heatpump in a country like Norway, now equipped with that important element, the e-Golf sales have surpassed those of the regular ICE Golf, reaching for the first time the #1 in the General Ranking and recovering the EV leadership for the first time since August '14.

Speaking of the general performance, there were 2.241 EV's sold, the best result since March, with the EV Share shooting for 21,30% (And 18% Share for BEV's), a fantastic improvement over the previous year (14%), with electric cars already dominating the City-car segment, with the Top 3 (e-Up!, I-Miev and Peugeot iOn) belonging to the EV Cause.
  

Looking elsewhere, the Leaf had a disappointing month, selling only 309 units, its worst performance since July '13, reaching only a #7 in the General Ranking, Tesla is suffering from deliveries constraints (Only 71 units) but still enough to outsell (By one unit...) the BMW 5-Series, its closest rival in the large sedan (E-Class) segment. 

The Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV sold a surprising 270 units, its personal best in Norway, granting it the Third Spot on the plug-in ranking and the Second Spot on the SUV's chart, behind the Toyota RAV4. Kia repeated a Top 5 appearance, with 105 Soul's, outrunning (again) the BMW i3 in the compact crossover-thingy race.

Final mention for the good reception of the Audi A3 e-Tron, with 54 units, already the Second Best-Selling PHEV in this market.

Looking at the manufacturers ranking, Volkswagen owns almost half of the market (47%, to be more precise), outselling Mitsubishi (16%) and Nissan (14%). With the arrival of the improved e-Golf this January and the Golf GTE version coming in February (And don't forget the Passat GTE coming later in the year), the german carmaker looks more and more the ruler of this market. Just to make things perfect, they could launch a e-Tiguan or a GTE version of its CUV...

Pl	Norway	Jan.	YTD '15	%	'14Pl
1	Volkswagen e-Golf	879	879	39	5
2	Nissan Leaf	309	309	14	1
3	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	270	270	12	6
4	Volkswagen e-Up! e)	180	180	8	3
5	Kia Soul EV	105	105	5	7
6	BMW i3	101	101	8	4
7	Mitsubishi I-Miev	98	98	4	9
8	Renault Zoe	79	79	4	8
9	Tesla Model S	71	71	3	2
10 11	Peugeot iOn Audi A3 e-Tron	60 54	60 54	3 2	11 21
12	Toyota Prius Plug-In	3	3	0	17
13	Opel Ampera	2	2	0	21
	TOTAL	2.241	2.241	100

e) Estimate

Source: Best Selling Cars Blog, gronnbil.no;

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