France December 2015

Renault Zoe Pushes the Limits 

The French EV market ended the year on a high note, with 3.311 units sold, failing a new sales record by just 100 units, but nevertheless up 40% regarding the same month last year, pulling the YTD EV Share to yet another record, now at 1.41%,significantly above the 0.91% of last year.

Looking at the monthly models ranking, it's business as usual in the leadership, with the Renault Zoe on top, ending the year with new records in France, reaching 1.581 sales in December and 10.566 in 2015, the first time any model passes the 10.000 units barrier in this market.

A mention to the Third Placed Mitsu Outlander PHEV, with 170 units, its best result in 15 months and the fourth consecutive month of growing sales, while at Fifth we have the veteran Peugeot iOn, with 111 sales, the outcome of a sales push by the french brand, which has made it return to 2012 sales levels, and expect it to continue this way throughout 2016.

Pl	Model	Sales
1	Renault Zoe	1.581
2	Renault Kangoo ZE e)	350
3	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	170
4	VW Golf GTE	129
5	Peugeot iOn	111

Looking at the YTD ranking, the last minute changes occurred in the second half of the ranking, with the VW Passat GTE jumping four positions to #19, while the Mercedes C350e climbed two positions to #27, a somewhat disappointing performance by the three-pointed star model, ending the year in Third in its class, behind the Passat GTE and Volvo V60 Plug-In. Inability of the local importer to get more units from Mercedes?

In the manufacturers ranking, Renault (51% Share) won its Fifth consecutive manufacturers title, followed by Nissan (10%) and Volkswagen (8%, down 1%).

Below, you will find the 2015 Trophy Room:

Best Selling BEV & Small Car: Renault Zoe, 10.566 units. Third consecutive title for the french hatch, this time with a result near its sales potential, representing a 72% jump over the 2014 result.;

Best Selling PHEV & Rookie Of The Year: Volkswagen Golf GTE, 1.687 units. The german model doubled sales regarding the last year Best Seller, (Outlander PHEV, 820 sales) but ended the year losing steam, is the internal competition (Passat GTE) already cannibalizing its sales?

Best Selling SUV: Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, 907 units. Europe's favorite plug-in ended the year in a discrete #7, but nevertheless it outsold the closest SUV (Porsche Cayenne Plug-In) by a 2-to-1 factor;

Looking at the BEV / PHEV share, PHEV's tripled share, growing from 6% in 2014, to the current 18%, thanks in most part to the Golf GTE / A3 e-Tron cousins, that combined gathered 10% of the market.

In 2016 the Renault Zoe will continue to rule the Hexagon at will, but the race for #2 will be close and with several competitors, the veteran Kangoo ZE will have to defend its position from the 30kWh-reinvigorated Nissan Leaf, the Mitsu Outlander PHEV and the GTE-branded products from Volkswagen. As for sales predictions, i would say that growth will continue, albeit on a more moderate pace, so my guess will be around 35-40k units. 

Pl	France	Dec.	YTD 15	%	'14Pl
1	Renault Zoe	1.581	10.566	39	1
2	Renault Kangoo ZE e)	350	2.649	10	2
3	Nissan Leaf	92	2.219	8	3
4	Volkswagen Golf GTE	129	1.687	6	N/A
5	Bolloré Blue Car	83	1.166	4	4
6 7 8	Audi A3 e-Tron Mitsu. Outlander PHEV BMW i3	97 170 39	1.123 907 822	4 3 3	N/A 5 6
9	Peugeot iOn	111	741	3	13
10	Tesla Model S	97	708	3	10
11 12 13	Renault Twizy e) Porsche Cayenne Plug-In Kia Soul EV	40 60 74	498 496 485	2 2 2	8 N/A 19
14	Goupil e)	40	441	2	9
15 16 17 18 19	Citröen C-Zero Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia Smart Fortwo ED Volkswagen e-Up!  Volkswagen Passat GTE e)	75 10 22 13 50	396 362 336 166 157	1 1 1 1 1	14 12 7 11 N/A
20 21 22	BMW X5 40e Peugeot Partner EV e) Volkswagen e-Golf	81 15 3	154 145 125	1 1 0	N/A 17 15
23 24 25 26 27 28 28 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 36	Citroen Berlingo EV e) Mercedes B-Class ED BMW i8 Volvo V60 Plug-In e) Mercedes C350e Toyota Prius Plug-In Por. Panamera Plug-In e) Mitsubishi I-Miev Mercedes GLE500e Mercedes S500e Porsche 918 Opel Ampera BYD e6 Renault Fluence ZE Ford Focus Electric	5 7 5 28 5 15 11 3	113 96 87 84 77 65 65 54 39 34 8 6 2 1 1	0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	16 N/A 21 18 N/A 20 19 N/A N/A N/A 27 23 N/A 26 25
	TOTAL	3.311	27.081	100

e) Estimate

Source: Automobile Propre; Avem.fr