Netherlands December 2015

History In The Making

2013 All Over Again - December Edition

The historic 15.908 new EV's registered last month not only blew to pieces the record registered in December '13 (9.311 units), but also represented the monthly highest volume of a given market outside China.

Although this surge in sales had a lot to do with fiscal changes for plug-in hybrids happening in January 1st (Just like in 2013), this December sales rush far surpassed what occurred two years ago, with sales 71% above what was registered then.

This event originated a Norwegian-like market share in December (23%), pulling the EV Share further North, to an amazing 9,6%.

To put this extraordinary result into context, there were more plug-ins sold in The Netherlands last month (15.908) than in the whole of 2014! (15.270) 

And to think just a month ago, i was expecting this market to end at 35.000 units...It did with 43.282. Not bad, eh?

Looking at the monthly models ranking, several new models took the top spots by storm: 

- The Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV was the Best Seller, with 3.710 units, failing to beat the 5.000 sales record of December '13, but allowing it to reach #4 overall and again collecting the Best Selling SUV title;

- The second placed Golf GTE registered around 2.500 units, scoring the best result ever for a Volkswagen, while at the same time placing it at #7 overall, representing at the same time 73% of all VW Golf's sold;

- Third was the VW Passat GTE, in only its third month in the market, it registered an enormous 1.879 units, or 55% of all Passat sales, placing it in #8 in the general ranking and as the Best Selling midsize sedan;

- In Fourth we have a veteran, the Volvo V60 Plug-In failed to reach its all-time record of 1.734 units of December '13, but came close, with 1.524, placing it as the second best seller of the midsize class, only behind the almighty VW Passat GTE. 

- At last, in Fifth we have the recently arrived Volvo XC90 T8 PHEV, with 1.494 units, allowing it to reach #11 overall and Second in the SUV league. 

Other models were also worthy of mention:

- The thought-dead Opel Ampera had its best sales month in two years(!), with 34 units, while the Tesla Model S had a year best, with 278 units, losing only to the Audi A6 (382 units) in its own league;

- The Ford C-Max Energi sold a record 538 units, being the Best Selling MPV of the Month;

- The BMW i3 had its best score in two years, scored 192 units, while the i8 established a new personal best, with 20 sales, outselling every other sports car, with exception of the much cheaper BMW Z4 (41 units);

- New sales records for the Mercedes C350e (1.300 units), Audi A3 e-Tron (1.120), BMW X5 Plug-In (585), Porsche Cayenne Plug-In (251), and Mercedes S500e (70),  

Pl	Model	Sales
1	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	3.710
2	Volkswagen Golf GTE e)	2.500
3	Volkswagen Passat GTE	1.879
4	Volvo V60 Plug-In	1.524
5	Volvo XC90 T8 PHEV	1.494

Looking at the YTD ranking, there were lots of changes, the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV managed to remove the Golf GTE from the Pole Position, thus winning the Best Seller Title, its third in a row, while the Volvo V60 Plug-In did the same in Third, removing the Bronze Medal from the Audi A3 e-Tron.

The Tesla Model S stumbled two positions to #8, to the benefit of the #6 VW Passat GTE and #7 Volvo XC90 T8 PHEV.

An important sign is visible just outside the Top 10, with the X5 40e Plug-In becoming the Best Selling BMW in the ranking, selling more than the two i-line models together.

Looking at the manufacturers ranking, Volkswagen won the manufacturers trophy, with 26% share, followed by Mitsubishi (20%) and Volvo (16%). A curious fact, last year Volkswagen ended in Sixth, with only 3% share...

Below, you will find the 2015 Trophy Room:

Best Selling PHEV & SUV: Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, 8.759 units. The Mitsu was also last year winner (And the year before...), this time improving its performance by 14%;

Best Selling BEV: Tesla Model S, 1.891 units. The american car had also won this title last year, but the main difference was that at the time it ended in Third on the EV ranking and now, despite improving its performance 29%, it is only #8, submerged in a sea of plug-in hybrids;

Best Selling Small Car: BMW i3, 575 units. The Dutch EV market much into small cars, with the exception being the BMW i3, a car with strong personality and sporty aspirations. It was the best seller this year, like the year before, at the time with 540 units;

Best Selling Van: Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia, 199 units. Another market where stolen by Nissan from the hands of the Renault Kangoo ZE;

Rookie Of The Year: Mercedes C350e, 3.869 units. Succeeding to the VW Golf GTE, the Mercedes mid-size offering had little competition in the begginning, but ended the race pressured by the VW Passat GTE and Volvo XC90 T8 PHEV, two models launched too late into the year to reach the C350e.     

Looking at the BEV / PHEV share, this year PHEV's were (even) more predominant in this market, conquering a record 90% share, 13% more than last year, confirming The Netherlands as the plug-in hybrid capital of the EV World.

The Outlander PHEV will have a number of competitors, especially from the VW team (Golf GTE & Passat GTE), but the Mercedes C350e and Volvo XC90 T8 will also have a word to say. Pure electrics will recover share, but it won't be enough for their best sellers (Tesla) to reach the podium. As for sales predictions, after this sales overdose, the hangover will be hard in the first half of 2016, so i would say some 25-30.000 units would be a realistic goal.

Pl	Netherlands	Dec.	YTD	%	'14Pl
1 2	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV Volkswagen Golf GTE	3.710 2.565	8.759 8.183	20 19	1 6
3	Volvo V60 Plug-In	1.524	4.400	10	2
4	Audi A3 e-Tron	1.120	4.358	10	12
5 6 7 8 9	Mercedes C350e e) Volkwagen Passat GTE Volvo XC90 T8 Plug-In Tesla Model S Ford C-Max Energi	1.300 1.879 1.494 278 538	3.869 3.166 2.494 1.891 1.229	9 7 6 4 3	N/A N/A N/A 3 N/A
10 11	Porsche Cayenne Plug-In BMW X5 40e Plug-In	251 585	1.047 895	2 2	17 N/A
12 13 14 15 15 17	BMW i3 Nissan Leaf Renault Zoe Smart Fortwo ED Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia * BMW 225xe Active Tourer	192 11 20 16 162	575 560 223 199 199 165	1 1 1 0 0 0	5 4 7 8 17 N/A
18	Mercedes S500e   e)	70	156	0	N/A
19 20	Mercedes B-Class ED BMW i8	11 20	143 109	0 0	N/A 14
21 22 23 24 25 25 27 28	Porsche Panamera Plug-In Toyota Prius Plug-In e) Opel Ampera Kia Soul EV Renault Kangoo ZE BMW 330e Mercedes GLE500e Renault Twizy	21 15 34 10 12 68 57	88 81 80 76 68 68 60 59	0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	10 11 16 18 N/A N/A N/A 15
28 28	Volkswagen e-Golf Volkswagen e-Up!	3 6	59 59	0 0	19 13
30 30 32 32 34	Porsche 918 Mitsubishi I-Miev Ford Focus Electric Citroen Berlingo EV Volkwagen XL1	1	8 8 5 5 3	0 0 0 0 0	23 20 23 N/A 26
	TOTAL	15.976	43.350	100

* - 3 pass + 13 LCV

Source: RAI.nl

e) Estimate