World Top 10 February 2014

Models - Outlander prepares for battle

With 17.283 plug-ins sold in February, global sales are up 17% regarding the same month last year, a steady increase that is another step in the right direction to dump the pump.

On the models ranking, the Nissan Leaf has seen their new arch-rival Outlander PHEV come closer, maybe preparing another strike at the Number One position in the near future, but where things are really heating up is in the fight for #4 between Volt and PiP and for #8, where three(!) EV's are separated by less than 100 units.

Finally, there´s two newcomers this year to the TOP 10, the Big-In-China BYD Qin and the electric-hot-hatch BMW i3, the first seems to have a bright future ahead, so this will be a name to remember for the coming months.

On the other hand, Renault lost all representation in the Top 10, when last year it had two vehicles (Zoe and Kangoo ZE), and even three in '12 (Twizy, Kangoo and Fluence ZE)...

Pl	WORLD	Feb.	YTD'14	%	'13Pl
1	Nissan Leaf	3.553	7.299	23	1
2	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	2.263	3.731	12	5
3	Tesla Model S	2.021	3.114	10	4
4	Chevrolet Volt (1)	1.357	2.396	8	2
5	Toyota Prius Plug-In	1.305	2.380	8	3
6	BYD Qin	834	1.507	5	40
7	Ford Fusion Energi	779	1.332	4	9
8	BMW i3	645	1.050	3	20
9	Volvo V60 Plug-In	610	1.058	3	7
10	Ford C-Max Energi	552	1.023	3	8
	TOTAL	17.283	31.280

Manufacturers - Mitsubishi is #2 thinking in the leadership 

In the Manufacturers ranking, Mitsubishi is now firmly in #2 and expecting to continue to grow in order to remove Nissan from #1.

Further down the ranking we see Ford reaching #4 thanks to yet another record month (1.473 sales), while BYD secures #7 also with a personal best score (1.072 units).

Pl	WORLD	Feb.	YTD'14	%	'13Pl
1	Nissan	3.553	7.299	23	1
2	Mitsubishi	2.782	4.477	14	3
3	Tesla	2.021	3.114	10	5
4	Ford	1.473	2.607	8	7
5	Chevrolet	1.428	2.560	8	2
6	Toyota	1.406	2.544	8	4
7	BYD	1.072	1.871	6	11
8	Renault	715	1.280	4	6
9	Volvo	610	1.068	3	8
10	BMW	645	1.050	3	13

(1) - Includes Holden Volt, Opel and Vauxhall Ampera;
(e) - Estimate


Questions for March

1 - Which model will be #4? Prius or Volt?

2 - Which vehicle will be #8 YTD?

3 - Can Mitsubishi scare Nissan?

4 - Which brand will be #4 YTD?

Belgium February 2014

I guess footballers in Belgium are really into plug-ins...

Changes Edition

Thanks to the precious contribution of our reader Piet, we have the EV ranking in Belgium.
A record 178 plug-ins were sold in February, with an EV Share of 0,36%, a good departure from the 0,17% that we had in 2013.

In a fragmented market, where the YTD leader has just 20% share, changes are commonplace, this month the BMW i3 jumped out of nowhere to win the Best Seller Title with 41 units, followed closely by the Tesla Model S (34 units) and the surprise Panamera Plug-In, #3 in February (31 units) and leader in the YTD ranking, making Belgium the first market where Porsche is the Best Selling EV Manufacturer. Who would image a couple of years ago that the words "Porsche", "Electric" and "Best-Seller" would be written in the same sentence?

Looking at the rest of the YTD brands ranking, last year winner, Renault, vanished from the map (#6 with 8% share), while BMW climbed from 4% in '13 to 17% share, enough to grant it the Bronze medal, behind Tesla (19%) and Porsche (20%).

Pl	Belgium	Feb.	YTD	%	'13Pl
1	BMW i3	41	49	17	7
2	Tesla Model S	34	55	19	2
3	Porsche Panamera Plug-In	31	60	20	12
4	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	22	27	9	19
5	Volvo V60 Plug-In	17	38	13	1
6	Nissan Leaf	9	17	6	3
7	Renault Zoe	8	11	4	5
8	Smart Fortwo ED	7	10	3	6
8	Renault Twizy	7	10	3	4
10	Peugeot iOn	1	1	0	14
10	Renault Fluence ZE	1	1	0	11
12	Volkswagen e-Up!		6	2	14
12	Mitsubishi I-Miev		3	1	10
12 12 12	Opel Ampera Citröen C-Zero Toyota Prius Plug-In		3 1 1	1 0 0	8 N/A 14
	TOTAL	178	293	100

Source: febiac.be; Manufacturers

Markets Roundup February 2014

"Dream of a Tesla, buy a Qin"

BYD Qin: Chinese Tesla?

After the half-hearted sales performances of the F3 DM and e6, Build Your Dreams (BYD) had high hopes for the Qin, the compact-sized successor of the F3 DM, as it was hoping to succeed, not only in China, but also abroad.

After several delays, the Qin started to be delivered in mid-December with a sales target of 2.000 units/month, which can be considered ambitious considering that the Chery QQ3 EV, the 2013 best selling electric car in China, sold an average of 450 units per month.

More than two months passed and with 1.507 units sold in the two first months of the year (By the way, Qin's 834 units sold in February represented a new EV sales record in China), BYD announced a few days ago that it sold some 6.000 units and didn't had more units in stock, if those numbers are true, we are talking some 4.000-plus units sold in a month! That's Nissan-Leaf-global-sales-in-a-good-month level and a staggering performance for any plug-in car, let alone one that only sells in China and a few countries in Latin America...Is this the car that will change peoples minds in China?  

 







Trends in the G7 

Besides China, there are other markets growing,besides the special case of Norway (Now at  11% share!), the Dutch market, despite fiscal changes in the beginning of the year, it just keeps growing, it's now at 1,97% share, when a year ago year it was half of that.

But there are also dark spots in the larger markets, the darkest of all is France, where the EV Share is now at 0,47%, when a year ago it was 0,80%...

Other Markets

Ireland is on fire, having sold 71 plug-ins in two months, when in the whole of 2013 it registered 58...Even considering that Ireland is a highly seasonal market, the 2012 record (182 sales) looks achievable, i think maybe even the 300 mark can be reached.


Questions for March

1 -  Will the  BYD Qin actually sell 4.000 units?

2 - Who will be #1 in Norway? Golf, Leaf or Model S?

3 - Will the Zoe recover?

Europe February 2014 (Updated)

Balanced Edition

4.878 EV's were sold last month in Europe, 38% above the same month last year, positive numbers that prove that the EV tide is continuing to fill up.

Looking at the models ranking, February shows a pretty balanced ranking, with less than 100 units separating the surprising #2 BMW i3 (645 units) from the #5 Volvo V60 Plug-in (560 units), while the Nissan Leaf sits high above them in #1, with twice the YTD sales of their competitors.

There were some changes in the ranking, with the excellent Second Place of the i3 and the Outlander PHEV back to the podium (#3 with 633 units), preparing itself to take on the Leaf as soon as it gets enough units in stock. The Model S also rose to #4 and with the announced price cut on their way, the podium might be a obtainable goal in the future.

On the german duel, the Bimmer seems to have the upper hand, having sold twice as much as the small e-Up!, now about that e-Golf...

Further down the ranking, we see the Prius Plug-in at #12 (A year ago it was #3), but things are even worse for the Opel Ampera, down to #16 with just 32 units...

The Porsche Panamera S E-Hybrid, or Panamera Plug-in, is now on radar at #16 (#13 YTD), thanks to their good performance in Belgium.

Looking at the brands ranking, Renault lost #1 for Nissan (24% share), with the french manufacturer dropping to Second Place with 14% share, followed closely by BMW (12%) and Volvo (11%).

Pl	Europe	Feb.	YTD '14	%	'13Pl
1	Nissan Leaf	870	2.131	24	1
2	BMW i3	645	1.050	12	12
3	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	633	833	9	2
4	Tesla Model S	601	859	10	7
5	Volvo V60 Plug-In	560	958	11	4
6	Renault Zoe	337	600	7	2
7	Volkswagen e-Up!	301	668	7	11
8	Renault Kangoo ZE	268	450	5	5
9	Smart Fortwo ED	144	311	3	9
10	Renault Twizy	79	185	2	10
11	Mitsubishi I-Miev	76	128	1	14
12	Toyota Prius Plug-In	65	143	2	6
13	Goupil G3	48	79	1	18
14 15 16 17 18 19 20	Peugeot iOn Citröen C-Zero Porsche Panamera Plug-In Opel Ampera Peugeot Partner EV Citröen Berlingo EV Renault Fluence ZE	46 42 39 32 30 21 10	76 72 95 82 61 39 15	1 1 1 1 1 0 0	17 15 21 8 22     26 19
	TOTAL	4.878	8.953

Luxembourg & Others 2012

Yes, you have read it right, this about sales in 2012, but i believe the sales data i've stumbled a few days ago is worth noting, as they come from countries out of the usual Green Car Media focus. To me it's the first insight into their plug-in sales and i believe it is also the first time they go public.

Here they go:

Luxembourg

The highest waged country in the EU registered 85 plug-in cars in 2012 with Renault leading the charge.

Pl	Model	2012
1	Renault Kangoo ZE	23
2	Opel Ampera / Chev. Volt	20
3	Citröen C-Zero	20
4	Renault Fluence ZE	9
5 6	Fisker Karma Mia Electric	2 1

Slovenia

The PSA (Peugeot and Citröen) brands did a lot to push EV's in Central and Eastern Europe, here's another proof of that.

Pl	Model	2012
1	Citröen C-Zero	16
2	Opel Ampera	9
3	Nissan Leaf	2

Slovakia

Just 6 units were registered in 2012 here, when in neighboring Czech Rep. 98 units were sold that year. 

Pl	Model	2012
1	Opel Ampera	4
2	Citröen C-Zero	2

Hungary

Again Opel and Citröen testing the waters for plug-ins here.

Pl	Model	2012
1	Opel Ampera	9
2	Citröen C-Zero	5
3	Nissan Leaf	2

Final mention for Turkey, 92 Renault Fluence ZE were sold in 2012 there, a small drop in the general Turkish market, but nevertheless it was enough to make it one of the top markets for the french sedan.

Austria February 2014

 Feeling the Heat Edition

71 EV's were sold in Austria this February, continuing the average of the past months, maybe when the VW e-Golf joins the market things will shape up a bit...

For the time being, the love affair between the Renault Zoe and Austria seems to be in trouble, as new models come in to scene, this month the BMW i3 won the best seller title, with 22 sales, while the french hatch ended in #2 (19 units sold), although it's still #1 YTD.

In #3 came the VW e-Up!, surely another of the reasons for the poor performance of the Zoe.

Pl	Austria	Feb	YTD '14	%	'13 Pl
1	BMW i3	22	28	19	8
2	Renault Zoe	19	43	29	1
3	Volkswagen e-Up!	11	24	16	11
4	Nissan Leaf	8	23	16	3
5	Tesla Model S	7	13	9	5
6	Smart Fortwo ED	5	12	8	4
7	Ford Focus Electric	2	2	1	14
8	Mitsubishi I-Miev	1	1	1	9
	TOTAL	71	146	100

Germany February 2014

Waiting for e-Golf

649 EV's were sold this month in Germany, the worst performance since last September, maybe with arrival of the VW e-Golf things will improve.

In the models ranking, the Model S was the best foreigner (#4), behind the home boys (BMW i3 #1, Smart Fortwo ED #2 and VW e-Up! #3), selling 66 units, its best performance to date.

Pl	Germany	Feb	YTD '14	%	'13 Pl
1	BMW i3	179	408	31	5
2	Smart Fortwo ED e)	150	256	19	1
3	Volkswagen e-Up! e)	100	209	16	9
4	Tesla Model S	66	96	7	8
5	Renault Zoe	62	110	8	2
6	Volvo V60 Plug-In e)	30	62	5	11
7	Nissan Leaf e)	24	95	7	3
8	Renault Twizy	15	34	3	4
9	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV e)	10	15	1	N/A
	TOTAL	649	1.334	100

e) estimate

Source: kba.de; goingelectric.de

Canada February 2014

Solid as a Rock Edition

While in other countries the Volt family sales are falling, in Canada the Chevrolet Volt continues firmly in #1 (For the fifth month in a row) with 98 units sold and 49% share.

The Nissan Leaf is Second, jumping to 64 sales and distancing itself from the Model S (20 units).

Hard times for the Prius: After selling in January only 4 Units, this month it registered again 4 units...

P...........Model.............Feb'14.....YTD'14
1.  Chevrolet Volt...............98..........164
2.  Nissan Leaf...................64..........105
3.  Tesla Model S...............20............55
4.  Toyota Prius Plug-in........4..............8

Netherlands February 2014

Recovery Edition

After the wild fluctuations of the past months, the dutch market is returning to more normal numbers, with some 1.000 units being sold this February and an average of 3% share of the total market.

Looking at the models ranking, we see two models recovering fast their sales momentum, with the Volvo V60 Plug-in now at 470 units and the Mitsu Outlander PHEV with 418 sales, while the rest of the competition are slowly picking up speed, with the #3 Bmw i3 just selling 72 units.

Pl.................Model...................Feb'14....YTD'14
1.  Volvo V60 Plug-in...................470..........742
2.  Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV....418..........500
3.  BMW i3......................................72............87
4.  Nissan Leaf...............................13............16
5.  Tesla Model S...........................10............17
6.  Toyota Prius Plug-in..................8............23
7.  Renault Zoe................................4............13
8.  Opel Ampera...............................4.............5

Norway February 2014 (Updated)

ICE Golf is back at #1

Thanks to a tip of one of our readers, we now have more accurate data for Norway, including the Outlander PHEV sales

This kind of title is only possible in Norway, where plug-ins are some 5/10 years ahead of the curve and have been dominating the general ranking in the last few months, as such, the main news is that the Internal Combustion Engined VW Golf is back at #1 in the general ranking, ahead of the Nissan Leaf, Tesla Model S and even the hybridized Toyota Auris. With the e-Golf coming this summer, the german car should regain the domination of this market.

But back at plug-ins, the Nissan Leaf achieved another top spot in the ev ranking, selling 484 units (Only 4 units behind the general leader Vw Golf), while the Model S from Tesla sold 431 units, making it the #2 in the ev chart, as well as the #4 in the general ranking and best full-size car in the general ranking.

In #3 we've got the BMW i3, which had a great month, selling 228 units and dropping the VW e-Up! to #4, with 166 units, althoug YTD the e-Up! is still Third.

Next is the Mitsu Outlander PHEV, already making its presence felt, with 136 units sold and collecting the best selling plug-in hybrid title.

Pl.............Model...............Feb'14.......YTD '14

1.  Nissan Leaf.....................484...........1.134

2.  Tesla Model S.................431..............563

3.  BMW i3..........................228..............310

4.  Volkswagen e-Up!..........166..............341

5.  Mitsub. Outlander PHEV..136..............181

6.  Mitsubishi i-Miev..............37...............78

7.Citroen C-Zero..................21...............30

8.  Peugeot Partner EV..........20...............51

9.  Peugeot iOn......................11...............15

10.  Renault Kangoo ZE.........10..............20

11.  Renault Fluence ZE...........4...............6

12.  Volvo V60 Plug-in............4...............11

13.  Toyota Prius Plug-in..........3..............13

14.  Opel Ampera....................2................8