Italy December 2015

 Top Dogs in Italy

Nissan Leaf #1 Edition

Unlike other markets, the Italian EV market is in the slow lane, having registered 205 units in November, up only 42% YoY, with the total numbers ending at 2.462 units, up 49% regarding 2014, while at the same time beating the previous record of 2.431 sales, recorded in 2012, time of the Twizy-fever.

Despite the significant increase in sales, the EV Share ended at 0.15%, just 0.03% above last year (0.12%), something that can be explained by the fact that the automotive market as whole is out of recession and growing at a two digits rate. Nevertheless, it is a new market best, finally beating the 2012 result (0.13%).

Looking at the models chart, the last minute changes were the BMW i3 just edging out the Renault Twizy and reach the last place in the Podium, but the headlines were for another BMW, the X5 Plug-in, scored 34 units in its second sales month, allowing for the german carmaker to collect the Top two positions in December. A telling tale for 2016?

Curious facts from two poster-childs of the EV Movement: 

- The Tesla Model S renewed its #8 of last year, with 134 units (vs 52 last year), a good performance until one realizes that their ICE competitors are still miles away: The Audi A6 ended the year with 4.383 units, the BMW 5-Series with 4.160 and the Mercedes E-Class, 2.291;

- In its first full sales year, the BMW i8 registered 44 units, far behind its ICE nemesis, the Porsche 911 (653 sales).

Looking at the manufacturers ranking, the chronic leader Renault won the race, with 25% Share, earning its fourth consecutive Manufacturers award, while BMW benefited from a strong month to pressure Nissan for Second Place, losing it for the Japanese by only four units.

Below, you will find the 2015 Trophy Room:

Best Selling PHEV & Rookie Of The Year: Volkswagen Golf GTE, 180 units. Last year winner, the Mitsu Outlander PHEV, despite doubling sales YoY, was helpless to sustain the German sporty hatch;

Best Selling BEV: Nissan Leaf, 390 units. Overall EV winner, just like last in 2014, it improved its performance by 18%;

Best Selling Small Car: Renault Zoe, 326 units. While its smaller brother Twizy took the prize last year, with 330 units, both the Zoe and BMW i3 this year managed to end ahead of the funky quadricycle and the last year runner-up, the Fortwo ED. Electrics are leaving the city and exploring new roads, and to prove it, a curious fact: Two thirds of the i3's sold are Rex...;  

Best Selling SUV: Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, 142 units. Until recently, the japanese SUV was the sole representative of this class, but the arrival of the BMW X5 PHEV has shaken things up: It took just the german SUV just two months to sell as much as the Outlander PHEV did in five...   

Looking at the BEV / PHEV share, PHEV's gained significant ground, growing from 9% in 2014, to 22% now.

Despite the upcoming 30kWh version, in 2016 the Nissan Leaf will have a difficult time to renew the title, not only the Zoe and BMW i3 will be dangerously close, but looking by the warm welcome of the BMW X5 PHEV, it seems that Italy will become a SUV-friendly market, so you never know if there will be a surprise coming from there. As for sales predictions, i would go with some 3k units, continuing with the slow, but steady growth of these last years.

Pl	Italy	Dec.	YTD	%	'14Pl
1	Nissan Leaf	23	390	16	1
2 3	Renault Zoe BMW i3 *	28 39	326 298	13 12	5 4
4	Renault Twizy e)	15	289	12	2
5	Volkswagen Golf GTE	8	180	7	N/A
6	Citröen C-Zero	25	164	7	14
7 8 9 10 11	Mitsu Outlander PHEV Tesla Model S Smart Fortwo ED Mercedes B-Class ED BMW X5 40e PHEV	5 9 2 1 34	142 134 115 79 67	6 5 5 3 3	6 8 3 N/A N/A
12 13	Volkswagen e-Up! BMW i8		54 44	2 2	9 N/A
14	Porsche Cayenne Plug-In		32	1	N/A
15 16	Kia Soul EV Volvo V60 Plug-In	13	30 29	1 1	N/A 7
17 17 19 20 20 22 23 24 25	Audi A3 e-Tron Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia Volkswagen e-Golf Fiat 500e Mercedes S500e Peugeot iOn Porsche Panamera Plug-In Mitsubishi I-Miev Ford Focus Electric	3	23 23 11 10 10 5 4 2 1	1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	N/A N/A 15 16 N/A 11 N/A 18 N/A
	TOTAL	205	2.462	100

Source: greenstart.it; unrae.it

* - 5 Bev + 34 Rex