Europe July 2016

VW Passat GTE impresses during Summertime Chill Season 


This article is being simultaneously published on CleanTechnica & EV Obsession.

The European EV market had more than 13.000 registrations last month, down 4% over July 2015, the slowdown in sales are more visible on the BEV side, now that buyers are waiting for the upcoming long-range models. Nevertheless, the market is set to surpass the 200.000 units by year end.

Looking at the Monthly Ranking:

 

#1 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV – Despite the Japanese SUV being the Best Seller in July, with 1.490 units, the fact is that its sales have dropped 14% YoY, this being the fifth month in a row of slowing sales. Talk about bittersweet victory... Although growing in important markets, like Norway or Sweden, Mitsubishi hasn’t found a way to replace the average 300-400 units/month it had last year in the Dutch market and to stop the sales bleeding in the UK. Is Mitsubishi’s star product becoming passé?

 

#2 VW Passat GTE – Thanks to Sweden and Norway, big time Passat GTE buyers, Volkswagen’s midsize offering reached the Second Position, its highest ranking ever, with 1.178 units, its best score this year. With the right mix of space, practicality, low carbon emissions and power, the Passat GTE is destined for success as company car for middle managers.

#3 Renault Zoe – The French hatch sales went back to black, in July, with registrations up 16% YoY to 1.135 units. With Germany compensating for the seasonal slowdown of its domestic market, the French hatchback is enjoying the summer break to chill and return en force in September, preparing itself for the big Renault-Nissan Alliance product showdown at the Paris Auto Show…   

 

#4 Volkswagen Golf GTE – The (not so) surprise of the month, VW’s sporty hatch returned to the Top 5, reaching #4, with 834 units, but sales are down 52% YoY, with last year result inflated by the Netherlands and currently suffering from internal competition from its Passat GTE larger sibling, the plug-in hybrid version of Europe’s Best Selling car will have a hard time in the near future, especially when the longer range VW e-Golf lands.

 

#5 Nissan Leaf – Sales of the Japanese hatch were down 25% in July, to 805 units, its worst performance of the year, with registrations dropping across the continent. In normal circumstances, Nissan would be worried and would try to pull some tricks to turn things around, but this time, the Japanese brand is just keeping production at minimal levels to avoid big unsold stocks, waiting for the big EV Push to be made by the Alliance at the Paris Auto Show.

YTD Ranking

Looking at the YTD ranking, this month there was only one significant change, with the VW Passat GTE jumping to #6, looking enviously to the Fifth Position of its Golf GTE relative.

But the race for #5 will also be made by the BMW i3, once the expected tsunami of 33kWh units arrives.

In the midst of the Summertime Chill season, besides the Passat GTE, other two models outside the Top 20 also did their best, the Mercedes GLE500e had 136 units registered, its best performance ever, while the Audi Q7 e-Tron did even better, with 352 deliveries, by far its best month to date, already pulling it to #13 in the July ranking.

(Un)Coincidentally, both are Big Luxury SUV’s, something that seems to be the Trend du Jour these days.

Looking at the manufacturers ranking, the trophy bearer, Volkswagen (16%) has managed to keep Renault (15%) at bay, while the increasingly menacing BMW (13%) is just waiting for the 33 kWh i3 to arrive, in order to reach the Top Two.

Pl	Europe	July	2016	%	'15Pl
1	Renault Zoe	1.135	13.007	12	2
2	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	1.490	12.614	11	1
3	Nissan Leaf	805	11.659	10	5
4	Tesla Model S	567	7.469	7	4
5 6	Volkswagen Golf GTE Volkswagen Passat GTE	834 1.178	6.519 5.900	6 5	3 12
7	Volvo XC90 T8	718	5.740	5	18
8	BMW i3	561	5.455	5	6
9	Mercedes C350e	752	4.872	4	11
10 11	Volkswagen e-Golf Audi A3 e-Tron	495 398	4.384 3.813	4 3	4 7
12 13 14	BMW X5 40e BMW 330e BMW 225xe Active Tourer	310 419 350	2.932 2.752 2.501	3 2 2	22 37 32
15	Renault Kangoo ZE	274	2.224	2	13
16	Kia Soul EV	264	2.118	2	10
17	Volvo V60 Plug-In	263	1.887	2	9
18 19 20	Mercedes B250e Porsche Cayenne Plug-In Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia	172 191 194	1.725 1.680 1.611	2 1 1	17 14 15
	TOTAL	13.104	112.144