Belgium February 2016

A common sight next summer in Knokke Heist

Volvo XC90 T8 Reigns Supreme

If February remained below the record numbers of the previous month, nevertheless the 655 EV's registered allowed to be the second best month ever and to triple sales YoY, with the 2016 EV Share now placed at a brilliant 1.48%, being this one of the fastest growing markets this year.

The Volvo XC90 T8 struck a chord in Belgian buyers, which have been bying them in droves (225 units, all-time record for a single model), being the largest market for the swedish SUV this year, staying even in front of the much larger US Market.

Looking at the YTD ranking, we see a 100% Luxury SUV podium, with the aforementioned Volvo XC90 T8 leading the way from a far, while the BMW X5 40e (61 units) and the Porsche Cayenne Plug-In (63), are running for Second Place.

Outside the podium, the Tesla Model S continued in Fourth, now followed by the Nissan Leaf, which surpassed the BMW i3 and reached the Fifth position, one interesting stat of the Leaf is that of the 40 units sold (Best result in a year), only 25 had the 30kWh battery, meaning a 63% ratio for the new battery.

Record numbers for the Mercedes C350e, the 39 units were not only its personal best in Belgium, but also the best result for a Mercedes model in this market. A sign that Mercedes is finally ramping up production?

Two models have landed, both coming from BMW, the 225xe Active Tourer registered its first three units, the career of this model is a question mark and will depend a lot on fleet & company buyers, something that the 330e has it easier, but it also comes with more responsability, as its sales goal is clear: Beat the Mercedes C350e. 

In the manufacturers ranking, Volvo consolidated the lead (32%, up 4%), followed by BMW (19%, down 5%), and Porsche in Third, with 12%.

As curiosity, there were two additional Toyota Mirai registered last month, elevating the Fuel Cell tally to four units this year, three Mirai's and one Hyundai ix35 FCEV.

Pl	Belgium	Feb.	YTD	%	'15Pl
1	Volvo XC90 T8 PHEV	225	428	31	13
2	BMW X5 40e PHEV	61	169	12	15
3 4	Porsche Cayenne Plug-In Tesla Model S	63 42	156 89	11 6	2 1
4	Nissan Leaf	40	71	5	8
6	BMW i3 *	20	67	5	3
7	Mercedes C350e	39	62	4	16
8	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	26	42	3	6
9	Mercedes GLE500e	15	39	3	27
10	Mercedes B250e	11	30	2	11
11	BMW i8	8	27	2	9
12	Audi A3 e-Tron	8	24	2	7
12 12 14 14 16 17 18	Renault Zoe Volkswagen Golf GTE Renault Kangoo ZE Mercedes S500e Volvo V60 Plug-In  Porsche Panamera Plug-In Citroen C-Zero	8 18 2 9 10 8 3	24 24 17 17 16 15 11	2 2 1 1 1 1 1	18 5 N/A 14 4 10 24
18 18 21 22 23 23 25 26 27 27 27 30 30 30	Volkswagen Passat GTE Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia ** Renault Twizy Kia Soul EV Peugeot iOn Volkswagen e-Golf Smart Fortwo ED BMW 225xe Active Tourer Peugeot Partner EV Volkswagen e-Up! Opel Ampera BMW 330e Toyota Prius Plug-In Citroen Berlingo EV	10 6 4 5 1 4 2 3 2 1 1	11 11 8 7 6 6 5 3 2 2 2 1 1 1	1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	33 21 15 23 20 17 19 N/A N/A 21 28 N/A 25 N/A
	TOTAL	655	1.394	100

Source: febiac.be

* - 5 Bev + 15 Rex

** - 1 Pass + 4 LCV

Plug-Ins Versus Regular Hybrids

Pl	Model	Feb. 2016
1	Toyota Auris Hybrid	331
2	Toyota Yaris Hybrid	234
3	Volvo XC90 T8 PHEV	225
4	Toyota RAV4 Hybrid	63
4	Porsche Cayenne Plug-In	63

 If we combine February regular hybrid sales with plug-ins, the Toyota Auris Hybrid stayed In #1, followed by the Yaris Hybrid relative and the Volvo XC90 PHEV vessel SUV. 

Tied in fourth we have the Cayenne Plug-in and Toyota's newbie in the market, the RAV4 Hybrid.