Europe March 2016

Outlander PHEV: Summer or Winter time, it's always Europe's favorite Plug-in

Outlander PHEV Is Back 

The European EV market had almost 24.000 registrations in March, it's second best result ever, representing a 27% increase over March 2015, with the 48.500 units registered so far this year pointing that 2016 will breach the 200.000 barrier, by how much it will depend a lot on how the German EV market will respond to the newly approved incentives scheme...Something that will be discussed in another article, to be published soon.

Looking at the monthly models ranking, we can see that the Best Selling Plug-in 2015, the Outlander PHEV, return to the leadership, with 3.661 units, followed none other than other than by three all-electric vehicles, with the 30 kW rejuvenated Nissan Leaf (3.542 units, new personal best), surpassing the Renault Zoe (2.768 units) and winning the BEV monthly leadership for the first time in the last six months. To reach such numbers, Nissan's Sunderland factory must have prioritized the all-electric hatch over the Qashqai ICE Crossover...

Pl	Model	Sales
1	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	3.661
2	Nissan Leaf	3.542
3	Renault Zoe	2.768
4	Tesla Model S	2.189
5	Volkswagen Golf GTE	1.574

Looking at the YTD ranking, complete reshuffle in the top positions, after two months recovering from December Sales Rush, the Mitsu Outlander PHEV is back at the highest place in the ranking, the Nissan Leaf also surpassed the previous leader Renault Zoe in the 2016 chart, relegating the french all-electric car to #3, while the Tesla Model S jumped five positions to Fourth, with the VW Golf GTE also climbing to #5, surpassing its BEV twin in the ranking e-Golf, down four positions to #9. 

Other points of interest are the races in the D-Segment/Midsize class, where the VW Passat GTE surpassed previous leader Mercedes C350e and reached the #11 position, while in the MPV class the leader Mercedes B250e now has a tough cookie to deal with, with the BMW 225xe Active Tourer now reaching #20 and setting new sales records every month, as it spreads through Europe, it will be difficult for the Three-pointed Star product to resist it in the long run, especially considering that sooner or later, the BMW product will be reinforced by the 7-seat version, something lacking in the B-Class...

Looking at the brands ranking, the trophy bearer, Volkswagen (15%, down 1%) has managed to hold on Renault (Also 15% share) in Second Place, but the 216 units difference is too small for the german brand to rest on the laurels. In Third we now have Nissan, with 14% (Up 2%), looking to discuss the leadership with the top two, something that the #4 Mitsubishi (13%, up 3%) and #5 BMW (12%) could also have a word to say. So, five automakers looking for the leadership, interesting times, aren't they?

Pl	Europe	March	2016	%	'15Pl
1	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	3.661	6.825	13	1
2	Nissan Leaf	3.539	5.967	12	5
3	Renault Zoe	2.768	5.838	12	2
4	Tesla Model S	2.189	3.390	6	4
5	Volkswagen Golf GTE	1.574	3.055	6	3
6	BMW i3	1.035	2.633	5	6
7	Volvo XC90 T8	1.150	2.503	5	18
8	Audi A3 e-Tron	1.002	2.272	5	7
9 10	Volkswagen e-Golf BMW X5 40e	728 745	2.217 1.576	5 3	4 22
11 12	Volkswagen Passat GTE Mercedes C350e	823 577	1.468 1.260	3 3	12 11
13	Renault Kangoo ZE	376	946	2	13
14	Volvo V60 Plug-In	331	902	2	9
15	Kia Soul EV	376	869	2	10
16 17 18 19 20	Porsche Cayenne Plug-In Mercedes B250e Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia Volkswagen e-Up! BMW 225xe Active Tourer	262 304 283 182 287	743 742 669 607 577	2 2 1 1 1	14 17 15 16 31
	TOTAL	23.901	48.522