World Top 10 January 2015

BYD Qin in a rare picture outside Showrooms

Models - New Trends

Some 24.000 plug-ins were sold last month, which represents a significant 60% increase over the same month last year, if this growth margin continues until the end of the year, we could be witnessing the half a million units a year barrier broken. 

The top two podium places seem to be where they always were, with the Leaf on top followed by the Outlander PHEV, but the truth is that the Leaf leadership was much more disputed than usual, with only the japanese numbers allowing it to distance itself from the rest of the competition. 

The closing gap is possible to see on the market share, 2014 ended with the japanese hatch holding 19% of the market, now that number has dwindled to 14%, only 2% above the Outlander, it looks that this year the leadership will be on the table for more than one ocasion...

In Third we have the ever-improving  BYD Qin (1.911 units, zillionth thirteenth consecutive record), consistently growing every month since it landed, now that the much awaited Tang SUV is coming, let's see if this will affect Qin's sales, many eyes will look to them, especially Tesla...

Speaking of the american rock-star carmaker, while the Model X is being prepared for its debut, the Model S is doing all the heavy lifting, with 1.755 registrations, it started the year in #4, the same position it had a year ago, so no surprises here, just like the #5 BMW i3, inline with the most recent performances, but its below is that things get interesting... 

The VW Golf plug-in Twins (e-Golf and Golf GTE) surge to #6 and #7 respectively, with the first winning the edge thanks to the US-registered units (When will the GTE arrive to America? Is VW afraid that it would be trounced by the 2nd Gen Volt?), confirms the new trend of Volkswagen getting in the game for real, while the  #9 Renault Zoe continues to impress, starting where it left off last year.

As for the Prius Plug-In and Chevy Volt, the downward trend of last year continues for them, both screaming replacement! as they see their 2013 positions (#2 for the Volt and #3 for the Prius) more and more from a far.

Pl	WORLD	Jan.	YTD	%	'14Pl
1	Nissan Leaf	3.492	3.492	14	1
2	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	2.895	2.895	12	5
3	BYD Qin	1.911	1.911	8	7
4 5 6	Tesla Model S BMW i3 Volkswagen e-Golf	1.755 1.331 1.207	1.755 1.331 1.207	7 5 5	3 6 21
7	Volkswagen Golf GTE	1.033	1.033	4	33
8	Toyota Prius Plug-In	868	868	4	5
9	Renault Zoe	720	720	3	9
10	Chevrolet Volt (1)	642	642	3	4
	TOTAL	24.211	24.211

Manufacturers -  Volkswagen Surges

As in the models ranking, if the top two positions seemed like a certainty, both Nissan and Mitsu had to use their domestic registrations to remove Volkswagen from the leadership, in what would be an even more shocking news, but the fact that the german manufacturer surged from #11 to #3 in what is usually a stable ranking is something to take notice.

In #4 we have another threat to the top two, BYD continues its never-ending sales-record streak, delivering 2.334 units in one month, dropping Tesla to #5, the California-based brand needs the Model X urgently, as the competition starts to diversify their lineup (Mitsu, VW, BYD, Renault, Ford and Chery have three or more models on sale), BMW and Renault remain stable, while Ford, Toyota and Chevrolet drop several positions in the ranking, with the first down three positions to #8, the second drops four positions to #10...And Chevrolet dives seven(!) positions, from #4 to #11. Yep, for the first time ever, Chevy is out of the Top 10 ranking.  

Pl	WORLD	Jan.	YTD	%	'14Pl
1	Nissan	3.604	3.604	15	1
2	Mitsubishi	3.286	3.286	14	2
3	Volkswagen	2.492	2.492	10	11
4	BYD	2.334	2.334	10	7
5 6 7	Tesla BMW Renault	1.755 1.625 998	1.755 1.625 998	7 7 4	3 9 8
8	Ford	940	940	4	5
9	Chery	917	917	4	12
10	Toyota	875	875	4	6

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


A final remark on the Rising Powers, if we split sales by carmakers origin, the market shares of 2015 look like this:

Japan - 32%
Germany - 22%
China - 21%
USA - 14%
France - 5%

Comparing with the 2014 ranking:

Japan - 38%
USA - 24%
China - 17%
Germany - 11%
France - 6%

And the All-Time ranking:

Japan - 43%
USA - 25%
China - 11%
France - 9%
Germany - 7%

We can see Japan leadership slowly eroding, while China and, most impressively, Germany, become two major players on the market, while at the same time the US carmakers decline and France becomes more and more a secondary player.