Australia January 2020 (Top 5 Draft)

Tesla leads the EV Revolution in Australia

Close to 800 plug-ins were sold last month, up an amazing 156% YoY, with BEVs jumping seven-fold, transforming this usually PHEV-friendly market in BEV turf (72% of registrations belong to pure EVs), and placing the PEV Share at a record 1.1%, which is the first time the needle crosses North of the 1% mark, a number that is highlighted by the fact that the overall market was down a harsh 13% YoY.

This is one of the most flagrant cases where the arrival of the Tesla Model 3, responsible for roughly half of the plugin registrations, sparked the EV Disruption, in what was a dormant market before it.

But looking at the models ranking, the BEV takeover isn't limited to Tesla, as only the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV resists to the pure electric wave, staying in #2, but with the #3 Hyundai Kona EV expected to have more batteries available throughout the year, Mitsu's Silver Medal is in danger.

In the remaining Top 5 positions, we have two fresh (In Australia, at least) faces, with the Sino-British MG ZS EV jumping to #4, while the Nissan Leaf is #5, with 30 registrations.

In the manufacturers ranking, there is really no competition for Tesla, with 50% share, with the road open for 2020 to be its 4th consecutive Manufacturers title, while the six times winner (2010, '11, '12, '14, '15, '16) Mitsubishi (16%) is Second, followed by Hyundai (13%), securing the last place of the podium.

January Ireland 2020

 

Nissan is going after Hyundai's crown in hot market

January had a record 1.459 PEVs registered, with the 2020 PEV share starting at 4.7%, above the 4% score of 2019, and a significant departure from the 3.4% share of January '19.

Also significant is the fact that the mainstream market was down 4% YoY, is disruption already happening in this market?

After nearly stealing the 2017 title from the seven times Best Seller, Nissan Leaf, Hyundai finally did it in 2019, with the Hyundai Kona EV outselling the Japanese hatchback by just 8 units (1.098 units vs 1.090), with the Korean maker adding last year Manufacturers Title too. 

Having lost its first Models title since 2013, Nissan wants to make sure 2020 doesn't get away, so it started the year on a strong note, by registering 296 units, and although it wasn't enough to beat the all-time monthly record (311 units, done by the Kona EV, in January '19), it was good to win a comfortable 101 units lead over the Hyundai Kona EV.

The Kia Niro PHEV started 2020 where it left off in 2019, in the 3rd spot, with 146 units, a new record for the Korean crossover, but this performance was just a part of Kia's outstanding performance in January: Besides the Niro PHEV record result, the Niro EV scored 72 units, which was the exact same amount of Niro EV units that Kia had delivered in the whole year of 2019...More impressive still, the new Kia Soul EV had 69 registrations in January, which was more units in one month than in the whole career of the small Korean crossover in Ireland...

Amazingly, the majority of models in this Top 20, 14 to be exact, scored record results, and while some of them were expected, as they are recent models (new BMW 330e, Audi e-Tron, new BMW X5 PHEV), or were recently refreshed (Hyundai Ioniq Electric, Porsche Cayenne PHEV), the truth is that some of them were unexpected, like the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, or both Volvo's and Land Rover's. 

Looking at the manufacturers ranking, the race is starting with several candidates to the title, with Nissan, Hyundai and Kia, all having 20% share, with the top three being followed by BMW (15%), not that far away.

Germany January 2020

7% Share!

The German PEV passenger car market started the year on fire, jumping 128% YoY, to a record 16,131 registrations, smashing the previous record (12,026 units) set last October,so it seems the German locomotive has (finally) been set in motion.

While BEVs jumped significantly (+61% YoY), the bulk of growth came from PHEVs, with their sales jumping through the roof (+308%!!!), allowing plugin hybrids to recover the lead over ful electrics (46% BEV vs 54% PHEV).

This brilliant performance, added to the fall of the overall market (-7% YoY), allowed the PEV Share to jump from 2.6% a year ago, to the current 6.6%, with BEVs alone hitting 3.1%, which is already originating significant changes in the fuels mix, with diesel dropping 12% YoY, to 33% share, while gasoline fell 17%, to 52% share.

Looking at January Best Sellers, we have the Renault Zoe leading the way, with 1,798 units, the second best score ever by a plugin, only behind the 2,224 units of the Tesla Model 3, last March, while the VW e-Golf continues to amaze, not only starting its last year on the market in 2nd place, but with a record(!) 1,120 units to boot...

Speaking of record performances, there were plenty of them throughout the ranking, particularly coming from Volkswagen Group, Besides the aforementioned VW e-Golf, the #5 VW Passat GTE registered a record 698 units, the #7 Audi e-Tron did a best ever 572 registrations, while its sibling Q5 PHEV was #6, with 645 units.

But the (not so) surprise of the month was the VW e-Up!, starting the year in the 9th Spot, with a record 463 registrations, a great result, but if we add the Czech (Skoda Citigo EV - 437 units) and the Spanish (Seat e-Mii EV - 70) twins/clones to the tally, we get 970 units, which would place it in the 3rd spot...An amazing score for a city car, isn't it?

And the good news do not end there for the German conglomerate, the new Skoda Superb PHEV midzise model landed in #12, with 425 units, the Audi A3 PHEV came back from the dead, into #18, with 314 registrations, its best score in 16 months, when the WLTP emission rules started (yep, it's been already that long...), while outside the Top 20, the Porsche Taycan hit a 3-digit score (167 units) for the first time, in its ramp up for success, with the only negative note being the VW ID.3, that in its 3rd month in (pre-)production, it had only 84 units registered...Production Hell, anyone?.   

But the VW Group didn't had the exclusive of good news, with PSA and Volvo also having reasons to smile, in the PSA field, the crossover Opel Grandland X had its first full sales month, scoring 449 units and allowing it to start the year in #10, while its French cousin Peugeot 3008 PHEV also started its career in Germany with 261 units, just enough to feature in the Top 20...In #20. 

Outside the Top 20, the fire-sale of the Opel Ampera-e allowed it to score a record 145 units performance, while the Peugeot 208 EV and 508 PHEV have landed, with 142 and 176 registrations, respectively.

As for the Swedish maker, its flagship SUV, the XC90 PHEV, scored a record 282 units, placing it in #19. while its smaller brother XC60 PHEV registered 168 units, also a best ever.

Outside the Top 20, a mention also to the record 227 deliveries of the new BMW X5 PHEV, and also to the fact that several familiar faces were kicked out of the Top 20, like both Smart nameplates, or the increasingly irrelevant Nissan Leaf (#pricecutsneeded), while the Tesla Model 3 was #21, with 257 units, although we shouldn't give too much relevance to this low score, as the Tesla midsizer always performs poorly in the first month of each quarter, expect it to rejoin the Top 20 in February and jump into the first half of the table by March.

In the brands ranking, the Volkswagen Group has a 1-2 lead, with Volkswagen (15%) in the front, followed by Audi, although closely followed by Renault, both with 11% share, while BMW (10%) and Mercedes (8%) remain outside the podium.

Norway January 2020

Audi e-Tron starts in the lead

PEV Sales were up a solid 31% in January, to 6.155 units, with both powertrains improving their market share, with BEVs growing from 38% a year ago to the current 44%, while PHEVs went up from 14%, to the current 20%, so things are looking good, leading to a large PEV (64%) share, and if we include HEVs to the tally, we have 79% of the Norwegian market now electrified (versus 64% a year ago), and this is in a off-peak month for the Tesla Model 3, so numbers could be even more outlandish in March, possibly even reaching 80% plugin share!

In this context, i'm wondering if Norway will get any 90% PEV share month, towards the end of the year...

Anyway, the fuels mix now shows BEVs well above everyone else (44% share), followed by PHEVs (20%) and HEVs (12%), while diesel (11%, down from 18% in January '19) and gasoline (10%, down from 19%) are shrinking fast, so we might see regular ICE sales become extinct in Norway by 2021...With HEVs following suit a couple of years later.

Looking at the January ranking, there are significant news on top, with the Audi e-Tron starting 2020 in the lead, being the second time the Big Audi wins a monthly title (the first had been last October), thanks to a record 902 registrations, with the German Crossover almost doubling the number of registrations of the runner-up Renualt Zoe, itself a surprising Silver Medalist, with a record 533 units, being only the third time the French hatchback reached the podium in Norway (the other two had been in June '17 and January '18), and its first Silver Medal, after two Bronzes.

The VW e-Golf ended the month in 3rd, so it seems the veteran model will leave the market on a high note, despite its superior sucessor, the VW ID.3, being just a few months away from landing.

Interestingly, all the Top 5 spots belong to BEVs, which says a lot on where the market is going...

Elsewhere, the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV is now seeing its lead on the plugin hybrid field being threatened by the new BMW X5 PHEV, that is less than 100 units away from the Japanese SUV. 

The German SUV is experiencing a strong demand, which proves that the formula "bigger battery = bigger sales" is also true on the PHEV field, and with its arch rival Mercedes GLE350de still in "demo mode", the Bimmer is profiting to reach record highs.

It seems Mercedes is deep in "Battery Hell", not only the new GLE plugin hybrid is stuck in symbolic outputs, but the all-electric EQC (remember it?) is far from being delivered in volume amounts, in January the midsize SUV hit a record...67 deliveries. And let's not even mention the ever delayed Mercedes A & B-Class PHEVs...

A mention to the record 107 deliveries of the BMW 530e, allowing it a Top 20 spot, in #16, now with a (slightly) bigger battery and AWD now available as an option, the BMW's sedan is now the leader in its category.

The Kia Soul EV closes the Top 20, with 90 registrations, its best performance since 2018, so it seems Kia has now enough batteries to supply the small crossover in larger volumes.

Finally, we have three new faces on the Top 20, the Skoda Superb PHEV was #19, with 92 units, and the small Seat e-Mii and Skoda Citigo EV landing inside the Top 20, if we add all registrations of the VW city triplets (VW e-Up!, Seat e-Mii EV and Skoda Citigo, we get 348 units, which would place it in #6 in the ranking, not bad for a city car, right?

In the manufacturers ranking, Audi (16%) started in the lead, being followed by Volkswagen (11%), and BMW (10%), with the #4 Hyundai and #5 Renault not far behind, both with 9% share.

Models breakdown by Fuel Source

The plug-in market continues to merge with the mainstream, breaking down sales by fuel source, we have five BEVs in the Top 5, followed a balanced mix of plugins, with 1 BEV, 2 PHEVs and two HEVs, but the telling story is that the Best Selling HEV (Toyota RAV4) was only #7, with the other Top 10 hybrid (Toyota Corolla) ending behind it.

With regular ICE models now being regularly wiped out from the Top 10, and the Best Selling HEV only #7, will we see a 100% plug-in Top 10 soon? Let's say...March? 

But i guess that for a regular 100% pluggable Top 10, we will have to wait for the PHEV version of the Toyota RAV4, as the Crossover Toyota is one of Norway's darlings and will be hard to keep it outside this Top 10...

France January 2020

11% Share! 

The French PEV passenger car market broke all the records in January, with all-electric models jumping 258%, to 10,952 units, while plug-in hybrids also surged (+238%), to 3,813 registrations, with both powertrains beating their own previous bests, and adding to a record 14,765 plugin registrations.

This brilliant start of the year, added to a falling overall market (-13% YoY), pulled the 2020 PEV share to an amazing 11% share (8.2% for BEVs alone), a far cry from the 2.7% of the same month last year, and with HEVs also jumping (9% share last month versus 5% in January '19), 20% of the overall market is already electrified, which is making pure ICE share to dive, and diesel in particular is now at 32%, a new decades low.

Has disruption hit the French market for good?

Looking at January Best Sellers, the Renault Zoe smashed its registrations record, with 5,331 units (#3 in the overall market!), being the main reason for BEVs to shine, but it wasn't the only one, as the #2 Peugeot 2018 EV landed with a bang, with 2,537 deliveries, with PSA disrupting the market, by placing 5(!) models in the Top 6. 

Besides the runner-up spot of the 208 EV, Peugeot placed the 3008 PHEV crossover in #3, and the 508 PHEV midsize model in #6, while the luxury arm of the Group, DS, had its two models in #4 and #5.

Add the fire-sale of the nine-lives Citroen C-Zero (a record 414 units!) and the 161 registrations of the crossover Opel Grandland X PHEV, and we can say that PSA's electric deployment started with the right foot, and there's still the landing of the Opel Corsa EV and volume ramp up of the crossover Peugeot 2008 EV...

With the plugin market now starting to resemble the overall market, there was still time for other models to shine, like the #7 Kia Niro EV (429 units) and #10 Hyundai Kona EV (248) hitting record results, or the impressive landings of the Seat e-Mii EV (116 units) and Skoda Citigo EV (124), respectively the Spanish and Czech twins of the small VW e-Up!.

With PSA starting 2020 in full speed, Renault's 8 year(!) walk in the park could be nearing the end, and while the French brand still has a commanding 36% share, Peugeot now has 27%, and adding the remaing PSA brands (Citroen, DS, Opel) to the tally, we get 39% for PSA, which is exacly the same number, if we add Renault to Nissan and (the fallen to abyss) Mitsubishi.

And all of the sudden, the French EV market became one of the most interesting to follow...

Netherlands January 2020

Opel Ampera-e (Opel who?!?) wins January, in reshuffled market

With a sales rush in the last days of 2019, one would imagine January would bring a big hangover...But turns out, it hasn't. Yes, the Dutch plugin market was down 2% YoY, to 3,184 registrations, but because the overall market fell even more (-6% YoY), the PEV Share (7.2%, 4.3% for BEVs alone) actually grew regarding 12 months ago (6.9% in Jan. '19), so...why is this happening? 

Answer: Start of the new EU CO2 emissions mandate.

Interestingly, this time it were pure electrics dragging the market down (-24% YoY), while plugin hybrids saw their sales sales surge (+69%), leading to a BEV vs PHEV breakdown of 60% / 40%. Does this mean that PHEVs still have a future in this market?

The new rules, added to the effective sales hangover of a number of last year Best Sellers, lead to a complete reshuffle of the Top 20, with the headlining shock news being the Opel Ampera-e (Who?!? answer: the European version of the Chevrolet Bolt) taking the Best Seller trophy in January, with 309 units, a new record for the small hatchback in this market.

But...Wasn't this car dead?!? Or about to?... - Well, it was going to start rolling into greener pastures, but then with the new CO2 rules enabled, Opel owner PSA decided to keep it for a few extra months, cutting its price in a big way (10,000€ discount, now being sold at 34,149 eur), doing its own VW e-Golf strategy, at least until the new Opel Corsa EV and Opel Mokka X EV are not delivered in large volumes. 

Speaking of VW e-Golf, the veteran model was the runner-up model last month, with 304 registrations, so despite the VW ID.3 shadow on the horizon, the old geezer is still selling in significant volumes, which says a lot about the popularity of the nameplate.

The Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV was 3rd, with 235 deliveries, its best result of the last 6 months, while the Volvo S/V60 PHEV twins ended just 17 units behind, being the midsize model best result since 2016, being just one of the many PHEVs shining last month: 

- The new BMW X5 PHEV was #8, with 114 registrations, its best score since 2015;

- Another two full-sized plugin SUVs had good scores, with the Range Rover Sport PHEV scoring 51 registrations, its best result in 12 months, while the Volvo XC90 PHEV delivered 108 units, the first time since 2016 that the flagship SUV from Volvo scores a 3-digit monthly result;

- Speaking of Volvo, its XC60 PHEV midsize SUV registered 94 units, its best result in a year.

But the news rules also provided good news for all-electrics: 

- The new Kia Soul EV finally started to be delivered in decent volumes, with the Korean crossover scoring 67 registrations, a new record for the Kia EV:

- After a couple months of delay (see new EU CO2 rules), the Peugeot 208 EV finally landed, with 97 units, already beating its arch-rival, the Renault Zoe (81 units).

In fact, it became quite visible that PSA decided to wait for January to deploy its plugins, besides the sudden surge of the Opel Ampera-e and the Peugeot 208 EV landing, three other models started their career last month, with the Peugeot 3008 PHEV crossover landing in #15, with 71 units, its Opel sibling Grandland X PHEV started its career in #20, with 49 units, and the Peugeot 508 PHEV midsize model landed with 46 units.

With so many new models showing up, some familiar faces got kicked out of the table, like the BMW i3 (#7 in 2019), Jaguar i-Pace (#13 last year), or both flagship Teslas (Model S & Model X) 

Outside the Top 20, a mention to the landing of the Seat Mii EV (22 units) and Skoda Citigo EV (41), the Spanish and Czech twins of the small VW e-Up, two models that should show up in the Top 20 soon.

In the manufacturers ranking, Volvo started the year in the lead, with 14% share, closely followed by the surprising Opel (12%), while Volkswagen (10%) closed the podium, ahead of Kia and Mitsubishi, both with 7% share.