World Top 10 September 2015 (Updated)

Models - Record Edition

Thanks mostly to another outstanding performance of the chinese market, more than 47.000 plug-ins were sold last month, which not only represents a 13% increase over the last record (42k last June), but also a significant 52% increase regarding the same month last year, pulling the YTD sales to 334k units, meaning a 54% increase over the same period in 2014, if sales keep up this pace, we should see sales reach some 500.000 units. Yep, half a million EV's in one year, this year.

And to think sales in 2012 were at around 150.000...

Thanks to the UK and its domestic market, the Outlander PHEV (4.829 units) managed to get its second Monthly Best Seller Month in three months, on the other hand, the once dominant Nissan Leaf hasn't reached the highest place in podium since May.

This brilliant performance from the Mitsu Outlander PHEV allowed it to recover the #3 from the BYD Qin, which has seen its sales dive to just 2.115 units, its worst performance since February, that drop has more to do with BYD preferring to make the higher margin Tang SUV (3.044 units, already #6 in the September ranking), than to lower Qin demand. 

Speaking of models with outstanding performances outside the YTD Top 10, better even than the Tang performance was the sales surge of the Kandi Panda EV, shooting to #5 in September, thanks to a record 3.301 units registered.

Looking at the rest of the YTD ranking, the other notable change is the Golf GTE dropping another position to #10 (It was #8 in July), changing positions with the BAIC E-Series EV.

A final word on the BEV / PHEV breakdown, currently pure electrics are winning 60% / 40%, with plug-in hybrids recovering 2% share regarding last year.

Pl	WORLD	Sep.	YTD	%	'14Pl
1	Nissan Leaf	4.257	35.948	11	1
2	Tesla Model S	4.654	32.995	10	3
3	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	4.829	28.791	9	2
4 5 6	BYD Qin BMW i3 Renault Zoe	2.115 3.361 1.665	26.156 18.040 11.782	8 5 4	7 6 9
7	Volkswagen e-Golf	1.103	11.220	3	21
8	Chevrolet Volt (1)	1.111	10.612	3	4
9	BAIC E-Series EV	2.100	10.344	3	16
10	Volkswagen Golf GTE	1.197	10.231	3	33
	TOTAL	47.598	334.500

Manufacturers -  Hot Race for Third Spot

This was the fifth consecutive month that BYD won the Best Selling Manufacturer title, again with a new personal record (6.013 units), the chinese carmaker is closing in to the leader Nissan, having recovered 1.433 units in September, there are now only 1.916 units separating them, so if all continues without major changes, BYD should surpass Nissan and become new Best Selling Manufacturer in November. 

In the race for #3, Tesla is still ahead, but with only 500 units separating it from Mitsubishi, a lot can still happen until the end of the year.

In the low end of the manufacturers ranking, things are pretty leveled, with only 96 sales separating the 12.924 units of the #9 Kandi (Back to the Top 10 after a nine months absence), from the 12.828 units of Chevrolet (#10) and 149 units ahead of the #11 Zotye (12.775), with the #12 BAIC also not that far off (10.533).

Pl	WORLD	Sep.	YTD	%	'14Pl
1	Nissan	4.580	38.888	12	1
2	BYD	6.013	36.972	11	7
3	Tesla	4.660	33.001	10	3
4	Mitsubishi	5.322	32.501	10	2
5 6 7	Volkswagen BMW Renault	2.596 3.843 2.428	23.932 22.263 17.568	7 7 5	11 9 8
8	Ford	1.799	15.338	5	5
9	Kandi	4.051	12.924	4	10
10	Chevrolet	1.273	12.828	4	6

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

Markets Roundup September 2015

Dieselgate: Early signs on VAG Plug-in models sales

Although still early to see definitive trends, for that we will need to wait for October and November numbers, i tried to spot in the September sales some early signs of any disruption pattern in Volkswagen Group's most significant EV's, namely the e-Golf and e-Up! pure electrics and the Golf GTE and Audi A3 e-Tron plug-in hybrids.

The scandal can work in two ways for these cars, either consumers opt out in any model from VAG, hurting their sales, or buyers switch from a regular VW diesel model to their Plug-in version, as can be the case in the Audi A3 or VW Golf. 

So, let's have a look at last month performance, model by model:


Volkswagen Golf GTE

- Sales drop in Netherlands, with 335 units, worst result in six months and dropping to Third in September, after four consecutive months as Best Seller;

- Worst sales month ever in Belgium, with eight units;

- Personal best in Portugal, with eight units.


Volkswagen e-Golf

- No sales last month in Spain, the first time it has happened since it landed there.


Audi A3 e-Tron

- 76 units were sold in France, its worst result in six months and the first time since February it dropped from the 100 units/month;

- Significant drop in the Netherlands and Norway, worst result since January in both countries;

- Personal best in Spain, with 21 units.


Volkwagen e-Up!

- Worst performance of the year in Norway;

- Only two units in Austria, the lowest sales level in six months;


As it is possible to see, the worst performers in September were the Audi A3 e-Tron and VW Golf GTE, with significant drops in high volume markets, like Netherlands or Norway, wih only two bright spots in secondary, low volume markets.

The pure electric models e-Golf and e-Up! seem to have coped better with the rough times, but truth be told, their general numbers aren't as high as their plug-hybrid relatives, and in the case of the little e-Up! sales have been dropping also for quite a long time.

 






Trends in the G8 

Renault rules in France, BYD does it also in China, while in Japan, the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV finally has a real shot at beating the Nissan Leaf for the Best Seller Title, something it has consistently been doing in the UK for the last year.

Tesla manages to keep to itself the leadership in the US, while Volkswagen had significant drops in Norway and Netherlands (See above), and finally in Germany, Volkswagen leads in the manufacturers ranking, but in the models chart, the First Place is very much open to debate, with five(!) models with realistic aspirations to be the Best Seller, with only three months to go!

Looking at Market Share, the only two dark spots are the US (0,6% now vs 0,7% last year), continuing to wait for better days (*cough* Chevrolet Volt II *cough*), and Japan, on a sales dive with no end in sight, but looking at the rest of the pack, things vary between the moderatly optimistic, like France (1,28% vs 0,91%) or Germany (0,63% vs 0,44%) and China's exponential growth (0,71% vs 0,25%), with Norway (22% vs 14%) and Netherlands (6% vs 4%) also growing at a fast pace.

Trends in other Markets 

Looking at other markets, we should mention the extraordinary result of the Outlander PHEV in Spain and Portugal, taking the lead there, as well as the extraordinary results of Tesla in Denmark, Switzerland, Austria and Hong Kong, not only leading the EV ranking in those countries, but also making an impact in its size class, sometimes putting to shame the usual leaders from BMW, Audi and Mercedes.

Belgium buyers continue their love affair with the Porsche Cayenne Plug-in, like Sweden does with the Outlander PHEV and Ireland with the Nissan Leaf, while the Renault Fluence ZE is having a rebirth in South Korea, in the shape of the Samsung SM3 ZE, which is now the leader of the EV market in this high potential market.

Looking at Market Share, if the EV markets in Estonia and Latvia have just imploded, others are the other way around, with Hong Kong rising exponentially to 3% share, up from 0,46% last year, Switzerland is also up significantly to 1,95%, up from 0,75%, while in the Ukraine plug-ins are now at 1% share, up from virtually...Zero last year.

Europe September 2015

"A Star is Born"

Rookie Of The Year Edition

More than 15.000 units were sold last month in the European EV market, up 54% YoY, and with over 120.000 registered this year, YTD sales are headed for over 150k units this year, a significant improvement over the 100k registered in 2014.

Looking at the monthly models ranking, it is heavily influenced by the UK market, with the first two positions belonging to the Outlander PHEVand Nissan Leaf, the two major forces there.

In Third we have the french Renault Zoe, benefiting from an uptick in sales in the domestic market, followed by the VW Golf GTE and Tesla Model S.

Pl	Model	Sales
1	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	2.849
2	Nissan Leaf	1.890
3	Renault Zoe	1.649
4	Volkswagen Golf GTE	1.192
5	Tesla Model S	1.049

Looking at the YTD ranking, the only changes are below the Top 10: the Porsche Cayenne Plug-In climbs one positions to #13, while the Mercedes C350e goes from strength to strength: 570 registrations in September, allowing it to climb two positions to #14 and confirming the Mercedes model as the only rookie able to create an impact in the ranking.

On the other hand, the VW e-Up! had its worst result ever, registering only 155 units, dropping two positions to #15, considering the current dive in the ranking, just last year the little VW was #6, the german brand should give a signal to the market that now is effectively pro-electric, by giving the e-Up! a substantial price cut, answering at the same time to the question: "Is VW really into plug-ins?".

An interesting stat is the unexpected rise in sales from the I-Miev family, especially the Peugeot iOn, this year 1.126 electric Pugs were registered, double of last year result (594 units), the C-Zero is already 72 units above last year result, while the family original, the Mitsu I-Miev, has seen its sales rise a more modest 13%. Price cuts can do wonders to a model career...

There is a newcomer in the ranking, with the Volkswagen Passat GTE displacing the Opel Ampera from #30, the midsize VW will be a serious candidate next year to the D-Segment / Midsize class trophy, so the Volvo V60 Plug-In and Mercedes C350e need to keep an eye on it.

Looking at the brands ranking, Volkswagen is in the lead of Europe's EV Manufacturers Throne (18%, -1%), followed by Mitsubishi (16%) in Second and Renault in Third, with 13%, the same share as Nissan, but with the japanese manufacturer 815 units behind its Alliance partner.

Pl	Europe	Sep.	2015	%	'14Pl
1	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	2.849	19.574	16	1
2	Nissan Leaf	1.890	12.761	11	2
3	Renault Zoe	1.649	11.693	10	3
4	Tesla Model S	1.059	10.626	9	4
5	Volkswagen Golf GTE	1.192	10.226	9	22
6	Volkswagen e-Golf	760	8.665	7	9
7	Audi A3 e-Tron	824	7.964	7	19
8	BMW i3	896	7.360	6	5
9 10 11	Volvo V60 Plug-In Kia Soul EV Renault Kangoo ZE	418 625 476	3.577 2.897 2.662	3 2 2	7 23 8
12	Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia	270	2.358	2	12
13	Porsche Cayenne Plug-In	289	2.261	2	28
14	Mercedes C350e	570	2.245	2	N/A
15 16 17 18	Volkswagen e-Up! Mercedes B-Class ED BMW i8 Renault Twizy	155 252 133 144	2.191 2.122 1.661 1.570	2 2 1 1	6 29 15 11
19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30	Smart Fortwo ED Peugeot iOn Bolloré Blue Car Citröen C-Zero Mitsubishi I-Miev Mercedes S500e Toyota Prius Plug-In Ford C-Max Energi Porsche Panamera Plug-In Goupil Peugeot Partner EV Volkswagen Passat GTE	97  156 199 101 82 73 79 81 35 43 29 136	1.463 1.126 751 678 599 577 518 485 419 312 250 248	1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	10 21 13 20 17 31 14 N/A 18 24 25 N/A
	TOTAL	15.725	120.672	100

Belgium September 2015

Two contestants, only one winner: Who will it be?

Cayenne Plug-In Closer to #1

312 EV's were sold in Belgium last month, up 117% YoY, placing the EV Share at 0,74% and YTD sales close to 3.000 units, already a 39% improvement over last year.

The two on the front continue their close run, the Tesla Model S (71 units) this time lost some ground to the Porsche Cayenne Plug-In, with the difference between both now at just 33 units.

In the rest of the ranking, the #4 Golf GTE had its worst selling month since it landed, registering only 8 units, allowing the Volvo V60 Plug-In to approach a little, but the real action happened in the second half of the ranking, with the Mercedes C350e climbing two positions to #17, the Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia also climbed two positions to #19, while the Kia Soul EV had a rare drop, losing three positions to #21, after having failed to deliver any unit last month.

In the manufacturers ranking, everything remains the same, with Porsche leading (24%, plus 1%), followed closely by Tesla (22%) and BMW, with 15%.

Pl	Belgium	Sep.	YTD	%	'14Pl
1	Tesla Model S	71	640	22	1
2	Porsche Cayenne Plug-In	84	607	21	14
3 4	BMW i3 * VW Golf GTE	25 8	305 205	10 7	2 23
5	Volvo V60 Plug-In	23	170	6	6
6	Nissan Leaf	18	156	5	4
7	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	8	145	5	5
8	Audi A3 e-Tron	12	139	5	15
9	BMW i8	8	130	4	9
10	Porsche Panamera Plug-In	6	84	3	3
11	Mercedes B-Class ED	9	58	2	N/A
12	Renault Twizy	5	49	2	8
13 14 15 15	Mercedes S500 Plug-In VW e-Golf Smart Fortwo ED Renault Zoe	8 2 1 1	48 32 25 25	2 1 1 1	N/A 10 10 7
17 18 19 20 21 22 23 23 25 25 25 25 29	Mercedes C350e VW e-Up! Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia Peugeot iOn Kia Soul EV Porsche 918 Ford Focus Electric Opel Ampera Mitsubishi I-Miev Volkswagen XL1 McLaren P1 Toyota Prius Plug-In Citröen C-Zero	10 1 6 4 1 1	21 20 15 14 13 7 3 3 2 2  2 2 1	1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	N/A 12 18 17 18 21 N/A 16 18 N/A 23 23 23
	TOTAL	312	2.923	100

Source: febiac.be

* - 2 Bev + 23 Rex

France September 2015

Allez, Les Bleus! Edition 

2.709 units were sold in the French EV market, up 14 YoY, keeping the EV Share at a record 1,28%.

Looking at the monthly models ranking, it's business as usual in the leadership, with the Renault Zoe ahead of the competition and the Nissan Leaf down to #4, giving way to the Renault Kangoo ZE, #2 with 393 units (Best performance in two years!), and the Bolloré Blue Car, #3 with 199 units, its best performance in 22 months.

Keeping the positive note for the domestic models, the Peugeot iOn ended the month selling 94 units, allowing it a #6 in September, while its Citroen twin, the C-Zero, had its best performance in 16 months by registering 47 new cars. It looks that the gallic

Pl	Model	Sales
1	Renault Zoe	989
2	Renault KangooZE	393
3	Bolloré Blue Car	199
4	Nissan Leaf	185
5	VW Golf GTE	172

Looking at the YTD ranking, there were a couple of position changes, the Kia Soul EV climbed two positions to #13, switching places with the long-in-the-tooth Smart Fortwo ED.

The other two models to climb in the ranking were the Mercedes B-Class ED, up two positions to #21, and the Prius Plug-In, which by clearing stock registering 13 units last month (Best performance since 2013), ascended to #25.

In the manufacturers ranking, everything stayed the same, with Renault First (50% Share), followed by Nissan (11%, down 1%) and Volkswagen (9%, 1% less).

Pl	France	Sep.	YTD 15	%	'14Pl
1	Renault Zoe	989	7.048	39	1
2	Nissan Leaf	185	1.771	10	3
3	Renault Kangoo ZE	393	1.716	9	2
4	Volkswagen Golf GTE	172	1.306	7	N/A
5	Audi A3 e-Tron	76	889	5	N/A
6 7 8	Bolloré Blue Car BMW i3 * Mitsu. Outlander PHEV	199 77 72	751 600 535	4 3 3	4 6 5
9	Tesla Model S	81	509	3	10
10	Peugeot  iOn	94	462	3	13
11 12	Renault Twizy Goupil	37  43	353 312	2 2	8 9
13	Kia Soul EV	48	296	2	19
14 15 16 17 18	Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia Smart Fortwo ED Porsche Cayenne Plug-In e) Citröen C-Zero Volkswagen e-Up!	46 23 30 47 13	294 273 217 205 128	2 2 1 1 1	12 7 N/A 14 11
19 20	Peugeot Partner EV Volkswagen e-Golf	19 10	103 96	1 1	17 15
21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31	Mercedes B-Class ED BMW i8 e) Volvo V60 Plug-In Citröen Berlingo EV Toyota Prius Plug-In Mercedes C350e e) Mercedes S500e e) Porsche 918 Opel Ampera Mitsubishi I-Miev Renault Fluence ZE	17 5 5 13 10 5	72 67 59 53 33 32 27 8 6 2 1	0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	N/A 21 18 16 21 N/A N/A 27 23 N/A 26
	TOTAL	2.709	18.224	100

e) Estimate

Source: Avere France; Avem.fr

* - 23 Bev + 54 Rex

Portugal September 2015

Outlander PHEV New #1 Edition

EV Sales are rising fast in Portugal, with 99 units sold last month (Up 350% YoY!), and with YTD sales now at 803 units, the EV Share jumped again to a record 0,58%. With the projected final numbers of the year at around 1.100 units, plug-ins will sell more this year than all the previous years combined!

With such a high level of sales the ranking is bound to have several changes, the most important of them being the Mitsu Outlander PHEV reaching #1 both in the monthly ranking (For the fourth time in a row, by the way...) and also in the YTD chart, signaling the first time that a PHEV ever reaches such heights in Portugal.

A curious fact, considering the diferente EV history(1) that the neighboring Spain has, is that not only the japanese SUV also reached #1 in spanish lands last month, but currently both countries share the same top 4 positions (Outlander - Leaf - i3 - Zoe).

Looking at other changes, the VW Golf GTE climbed one position to #7, the Renault Kangoo ZE got its mojo back, jumping to #9, enabling it to recover the LCV Best seller title, but the Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia twins remain close, so this should be a thrilling race to the end.

The Audi A3 e-Tron was down to #13, while below it the Porsche Cayenne Plug-In climbed two positions to #15.

In the manufacturers ranking, Mitsubishi (25% Share) kicked out Nissan (20%) from the leadership, enabling the japanese carmaker to reach #1 for the first time ever, followed by Renault (18) and BMW (14%).

Pl	Portugal	Sept.	2015	%	Pl '14
1	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	26	195	24	4
2	Nissan Leaf	15	146	15	2
3 4	BMW i3 * Renault Zoe	20 7	100 62	12 8	1 5
5 6 7 7 9 10 11 12 13	Renault Twizy Peugeot iOn Toyota Prius Plug-In Volkswagen Golf GTE Renault Kangoo ZE Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia Tesla Model S Mercedes B-Class ED Audi A3 e-Tron	2 8 7 2 1 2	50 48 28 28 21 14 13 12 11	6 6 3 3 3 2 2 1 1	3 20 12 N/A 8 8 N/A N/A N/A
13 15 16 17 17 17 20 20 22 22 24 24 24	Volvo V60 Plug-In Porsche Cayenne Plug-In BMW i8 Volkswagen e-Up! Mercedes S500 Plug-In Volkswagen e-Golf Mitsubishi I-Miev Smart Fortwo ED Opel Ampera Porsche Panamera Plug-In Citroen Berlingo EV Kia Soul EV Citroen C-Zero	1 3 1 1 1 1 1 1	11 10 9 8 8 8 6 6 3 3 1 1 1	1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0	14 13 7 11 N/A 15 15 6 18 8 20 20 N/A
	TOTAL	99	803	100

Source: ACAP

* - 13Bev + 7 Rex

(1) - #1's in Portugal (Spain) throughout the years:

2010 - Nissan Leaf (Think City);

2011 - Nissan Leaf (Mitsubishi I-Miev);

2012 - Renault Twizy (Renault Twizy);

2013 - Renault Twizy (Nissan Leaf);

2014 - BMW i3 (Nissan Leaf);

2015 - Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV (Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV).