France December 2014

Getting Pretty for the New Year Edition

The French EV market had another breakthrough month, selling 2.289 units, the second best month ever for EV's in France, only behind the 2.389 units of last September, which are twice as much sales as the same same month last year, placing the EV Share at 0,90% and a yearly sales record of over 16.000 units, an improvement of some 1.000 over last year. 

Looking at the monthly models ranking, the front runners are in their the usual 1-2-3-4 distribution (Zoe-Kangoo ZE-Leaf-Bolloré), with a surprise in #5, with the Tesla Model S entering for the first time the Top 5, with 86 units sold, a new record for the american car in French lands, could this mean good things to come for Tesla in 2015?

Pl	Model	Sales
1	Renault Zoe	1.228
2	Renault Kangoo ZE	337
3	Nissan Leaf	129
3	Bolloré Blue Car	100
5	Tesla Model S	86

In the YTD table, things remained fairly stable in the top positions this December, with the only significant change being the Model S climbing one position to #10, so let's look at individual performances:

#1 Renault Zoe - Thanks to a record December, the french hatch improved on its previous result (6.137 vs 5.511 in '13), but things were a bit shaky during the first half of the year, with a rejuvenated Zoe (To which point?) promised in 2015, we can assume that it will improve again its YTD result, the question will be: "By how much?"

#2 Renault Kangoo ZE - The workhorse from Renault had a down year, performing worse than in 2013 (4.174  sales then) and 2012 (2.869), probably it is due to the competition of most challengers (Yes, e-NV200, it's you), but sales had seen an uptick in more recent months, so the Best-Selling LCV (And #2 overall) must be safe for months to come;

#3 Nissan Leaf - Repeating the Third Spot won last year, with a 11% sales increase to go along with it, the japanese hatch is happily leaving the stardom role for the homeboy Zoe, while it makes sure its Bronze medal won't go anywhere;

#4 Bolloré Blue Car - This quirky rental-car sold 1.170 units, less than the record 1.543 sold in 2012, but almost twice as the previous year, set with a new agreement with Renault, one wonders what will happen to this start-up, will it be swallowed by Renault or will it have a Kandi-like future? 

#5 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV - In 2013 the Best-Selling Plug-In Hybrid (Prius Plug-In) was #9 overall with 393 sales and 3% Share, while ALL PHEV's had 5%. With 820 units and 5% Share, the japanese SUV made a brilliant Fifth Place and established plug-in hybrids as something to take in consideration in the future of the French EV Market.

Looking at the manufacturers ranking, Renault won the Best-Seller title for the fourth time in a row, with 57%, twelve points less than last year, but still an enormous share that says a lot on what France represents for the local brand. 

Second was Nissan, with 11% Share, improving 1% Share on last year (e-NV200 effect), while in Third we have Bolloré, which also ended up in #3 last year, but this time it saw its share grow from 4% to 7%. So, 1-2-3 positions the same as last year, talk about a dull ranking!.

Looking into the near future, not much is expected to change, although Tesla might see sales finally take off and feature more frequently in the Top 5, for total volumes, i would go for some 18-20.000 units, slow but steady growth seems to be be French way.

Pl	France	Dec.	YTD	%	'13Pl
1	Renault Zoe	1.228	6.137	38	1
2	Renault Kangoo ZE	337	2.673	16	2
3	Nissan Leaf	129	1.597	10	3
4	Bolloré Blue Car	100	1.170	7	4
5	Mit. Outlander PHEV	75	820	5	N/A
6	BMW i3 *	64	607	4	13
7	Smart Fortwo ED	63	509	3	7
8	Renault Twizy e)	20	491	3	5
9	Goupil	40	451	3	6
10	Tesla Model S	86	328	2	18
11	Volkswagen e-Up!	21	265	2	15
12	Nissan e-NV200	67	254	2	N/A
13	Peugeot iOn	6	212	1	11
14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 21 23 23 25 26 27 27 27	Citröen C-Zero Volkswagen e-Golf Citröen Berlingo EV Peugeot Partner EV Volvo V60 Plug-In Kia Soul EV Porsche Panamera Plug-In Toyota Prius Plug-In   BMW i8 e) Opel Ampera Mia Electric Ford Focus Electric Renault Fluence ZE Mc Laren P1 Fisker Karma Porsche 918	3 10 10 5 5 5	154 89 88 82 72 63 43 38 26 11 11 8 5 1 1 1	1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	12 N/A N/A N/A 9 N/A 14 8 N/A N/A 10 22 19 N/A 21 N/A
	TOTAL	2.289	16.222	100

e) Estimate

 * - 20 Bev + 44 Rex

Source: Avere France; Avem.fr; amperiste.fr