Top EV Automotive Groups

BYD Qin in Uruguay

Picking up on an article published in June, the Top 10 Automotive EV Groups reflected the total volume of plug-ins sold by each Manufacturing Group, but to put that into context, i have decided to compare it with this year Automotive EV Groups:

		Sales '15	%	Total Sales	%
	Renault-Nissan	44,003	18	265,205	27
	VW (VAG)	28,480	12	42,743	4
	BYD	25,592	11	51,338	5
	Tesla	24,867	10	83,587	9
	Mitsubishi	24.117	10	108,883	11
	BMW	15,469	6	31,822	3
	Ford	11,548	5	65,696	7
	GM	11,617	4	100,818	10

A few facts are visible here:

- If the Renault-Nissan Alliance continues to lead, the fact is that they are losing ground to the competition;

- Volkswagen Group and BYD are surging and closing in on the Alliance, VAG is a particularly dangerous competitor, considering their deep pockets and powerful R&D skills, question is, will they get serious on plug-ins?

- Tesla is riding the plug-in wave, Ford is starting to lose ground, due the lack of new products to fight all the newcomers coming in;

- BMW's bet on the i sub-brand is being rewarded with an important role in the EV scene, and with a bunch of PHEV versions coming to the regular lineup, the german brand can only see its share grow;

- Finally, GM. The early bet on the Chevy Volt lifted it to a leading role in the early days (Chevrolet was the Best-Selling brand in 2012), but the other offerings from GM failed to succeed, be it because of limited production/diffusion (Chevy Spark EV) or outlandish prices (Cadillac ELR), that together with the early sales decline of the Volt and current generation change, lead GM this year to be far from the top places and has an eye on bullish chinese carmakers (Geely Group, BAIC, Zotye, etc) and even the latest plug-in enthusiast, Daimler-Mercedes, to retain its current #8.

(An important absence here is Toyota, #4 in historical volumes, but only #13 this year...)

Looking at the numbers in a different way, grouping sales by the carmakers origin, two surprising facts appear:

- This year, China is the largest maker of plug-ins...

- ...And Germany is the Third largest EV maker, ahead of the US!

		Sales '15	%	Total Sales	%
	China	61,637	25	135,921	14
	Japan	57,813	24	380,910	39
	Germany	50,558	21	96,380	9
	USA	47,279	19	251,082	26
	France	14,803	6	92,289	9