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| "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?
It sure shows in Ireland! I've literally cycled past 4 Nissan LEAFs on my way home today, 3 of them had 2014 registrations! I was absolutely chuffed, especially when I didn't hear the clatter of a TDI.
ReplyDeleteAnswer to Q2: Model S. Things have been crazy at Tesla stores in March, see video. The total numbers for March will certainly have four digits, perhaps even breaking the record of one model sold in one month currently held by the VW Passat from Jan 2007: 1267 cars.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ez0o0ZbxzSc
I've also heard those rumors about a super-month of Tesla in Norway, with some 1.500 units sold, if that becomes true, with 1.500 Model S in Norway with 4.500 Qin in China, we are headed for a bang up sales month, certainly above 20.000 units/month.
ReplyDeleteUpdate: 31 EVs were sold in Ireland for March! 29 were Nissan LEAFs but I cannot find the other two. i3, Twizy (and Twizzy), Fluence, Kangoo ze, C-Zero, i-MiEV, none of them made sales in March.
ReplyDeleteSo, 101 sold this year and it will be a record at the end of the year!
Those are truly encouraging numbers, worthy of an "Ireland" article to be posted in the near future :)
ReplyDeleteAnswers:
ReplyDelete1 - Nope, 877 is the number;
2 - Cito13 was right, the Model S was not only #1 on the General Ranking, but you have to go back to the 80's (1986 - Ford Sierra) to find so much monthly volume (1.493 units) for just one car;
3 - Well, it did recover a bit, but it only managed to keep #1 in its home market, so...Better luck next time.