Portugal December 2015

Has the Zoe finally reached its full potential?

  

Outlander PHEV Conquers #1

EV Sales are smoking hot in Portugal, with sales reaching 250 units in December, up five fold regarding the same month last year and selling more in one month than in the whole year of 2013...

With YTD sales ending at 1.305 units, up 260% regarding 2014, the EV Share ended at 0,61%, a significant departure from the 0,25% of last year, a rise not so spectacular as total sales, because the general market also grew in double digits.

Looking at the models ranking, the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV was the surprising winner of the Best Seller title, growing from #4 and 39 units in 2014, to the current #1, with 229 units.

The remaining podium seats were for the Nissan Leaf (Second) and BMW i3 (Third), both of them benefiting from sales pushes by their respective brands in December, an aspect that local importers finally seem to have dedicated themselves to do.

The most flagrant example of this is the Renault Zoe, which has sold a record 63 units last month,a new all-time monthly record in this market, collecting only its third Monthly Best Seller trophy (The previous were in Dec. '14 and Oct. '15), an odd fact for a model that has been on sale for over two years, especially considering that Renault has the largest dealership network in Portugal and is the best selling automotive brand.

An interesting case is the Mercedes C350e, Rookie of the Year, ending the year in #5, meaning that fleet/company managers are finally adhering to the substantial company incentives.

In the manufacturers ranking, Nissan (19%) recovered just in time to win its third manufacturers title (2010, 2011 & 2015), reaching Renault (Best Seller in 2012, 2013 & 2014) as the brand with most trophies here.

Renault also took the profit from a great December to reach Second Place (18% share and 238 units), dropping Mitsubishi (18% and 235 units) to Third Place.

After 2015 having been the Year One AT (After Troika), it looks that the EV market has finally to grow significantly, so i would say some 2.500 units will be sold during 2016, with the EV Share staying firmly north of the 1% barrier. Regarding models, the Zoe finally looks poised to run for the leadership, looking to outsell the Outlander PHEV, BMW i3 and Nissan Leaf, while the Mercedes C350e and VW Passat GTE might play the dark horse card that Mitsubishi did so well in 2015.

Pl	Portugal	Dec.	2015	%	Pl '14
1	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	13	229	18	4
2	Nissan Leaf	34	209	16	2
3 4	BMW i3 * Renault Zoe	40 63	162 153	12 12	1 5
5 6 6 8 9 10 11 12 12 14 15 16 16	Mercedes C350e Renault Twizy Peugeot iOn Toyota Prius Plug-In Volvo V60 Plug-In Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia Volkswagen Golf GTE Renault Kangoo ZE Citroen C-Zero Volkswagen e-Up! Mercedes B-Class ED Tesla Model S e) Volkswagen e-Golf	32 3 9 6 9 12 2 12 4 1 4	80 58 58 47 38 36 33 27 27 22 17 15 15	6 4 4 4 3 3 2 2 2 2 1 1 1	N/A 3 20 12 14 8 N/A 8 20 11 N/A N/A 15
18 18 20 20 22 23 24 25 25 25 28 28 30	Audi A3 e-Tron Porsche Cayenne Plug-In Mercedes S500e BMW i8 Smart Fortwo ED Mistusbishi I-Miev Opel Ampera Porsche Panamera Plug-In BMW X5 40e PHEV Kia Soul EV Peugeot Partner EV Volvo XC90 T8 PHEV Citroen Berlingo EV	1 2 2 1	13 13 11 11 7 6 4 3 3 3 2 2 1	1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	N/A 13 N/A 7 6 15 18 8 N/A N/A N/A N/A 20
	TOTAL	250	1.305	100

Source: ACAP

* - 39 Bev + 1 Rex

Plug-Ins Versus Regular Hybrids

Pl	Model	2015
1	Toyota Auris Hybrid	736
2	Toyota Yaris Hybrid	547
3	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	229
4	Nissan Leaf	209
5	BMW i3	162

  
If we combine regular hybrid sales with plug-ins, only the Auris Hybrid and Yaris Hybrid, both from Toyota, are outselling plug-ins. If the Auris seems out of reach for the moment, the Yaris Hybrid might see its second place in danger, especially if Renault starts to market the Zoe in a serious fashion.