Europe August 2016 (Updated)

 

BMW i3 surges to #1 thanks to arrival of 33 kWh version

The European EV market had more than 13.000 registrations last month, up 19% over August 2015, with the market is set to surpass the 200.000 units by year end. In a relatively stable market, one model stole the show.

Looking at the Monthly Ranking:

#1 BMW i3 – Thanks to the massive arrival of the 33 kWh units, the BMW i3 had the anticipated sales surge, jumping directly to Number One in August, with 1.317 units, its best score of the year, while also for the first time in 2016, the BEV version outsold the Rex brethren, meaning that with the extended electric range, buyers feel more safe to go all into the EV game with the BEV version, without needing the safe net of the Range Extender. The largest markets to absorb the extended range Bimmers were Norway (293 units, all BEV) and Germany (280 deliveries, 147 of them BEV).

 

#2 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV – The Japanese SUV dropped to Second in August, with 1.028 units, but actually Mitsubishi had some good news, as the Outlander PHEV deliveries went up 6% YoY, ending a five month trend of slowing sales. Although dropping in the all-important UK market, Norway and Germany have done the heavy lifting this month, pulling it into the black. And the Japanese brand really needs positive news...

 

#3 VW Passat GTE – Besides the usual Sweden and Norway, big time Passat GTE lovers, Volkswagen’s midsize offering  also impressed in the Netherlands, with 119 units, its best result of the year there, allowing it to reach the Third Position, with 916 units. With the right mix of electric range, space, power and a reasonable price, the Passat GTE was destined for success as company car across Europe.

 

#4 Nissan Leaf – Sales of the Japanese hatch were down 15% last month, to 869 units, 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 upcoming Paris Auto Show.

 

#5 Renault Zoe – In what is usually a slow month for the French hatch, August turned out to be a not so bad sales month, with registrations up 47% YoY to 857 units and for that it had to thank the German market, that with 256 units, compensated the seasonal slowdown of the French market. Actually, Renault, the owner of the current EV Yellow Jersey in Europe, is probably not that much concerned with the current sales trend of its hatch, as it is preparing itself for the Paris Auto Show big product showdown, where the Zoe is expected to win some interesting new features… 

Article also published in EV Obsession and CleanTechnica.

Joining the Top 20 soon

  

YTD Ranking

Looking at the YTD ranking, there weren’t significant changes at the top, with the Top 4 positions with no real chances of being contested in the short term.

But the race for #5 should be interesting, now that the rejuvenated BMW i3 is delivering their 33kWh units, the VW Golf GTE better step up the game or else in will have to say Auf Wiedersehen to the Fifth Place.

In the midst of the Summertime Chill season, besides the BMW i3, two other models had excelled in August, the Mercedes B250e had 466 units registered, its best performance ever, while the newly arrived Tesla Model X had its first significant deliveries month in Europe, with 307 units, already pulling it to #15 in the August ranking and #2 in the Luxury SUV class, only behind the Volvo XC90 PHEV, with 333 units.

(Un)Coincidentally, several of the Model X direct competitors had lower than average scores, like the BMW X5 PHEV (223 units, worst result in a year), Mercedes GLE500e (77 units, worst result of 2016), or the Porsche Cayenne Plug-In (154 units, lowest result since December 2014). Do I see a trend here?...

Considering that September is the last month of the Quarter and Tesla usually delivers some Ludicrous performances by that time, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Model X sneaked into the next month Top 5.

“What about two Tesla in September’s Top 5?” – While possible, I don’t believe it will be probable, with Tesla firing on all cylinders electrons to have as much units delivered as possible, I think they will make North America a priority for the MS (It’s simpler to deliver there) and won’t have the manufacturing / logistic ability to deliver so many MS units on this side of the Pond. Go on Tesla, prove me wrong!

Looking at the manufacturers ranking, the trophy bearer, Volkswagen (16%), has been successful in fending off its direct competitors, but now it has a new and ambitious runner-up to take in account, as BMW (15%, up 2%) is profiting from a strong (And extensive) line-up to climb in the ranking, this time to Second Place, while dropping Renault to Third, with 14% share.

While BMW is still far from the leadership, 1.870 units behind, to be more precise, the booming sales (i3 33 kWh deliveries, 740e arrival…) of the Bavarian manufacturer means that it won’t be all that surprising to see BMW as Europe’s best-selling EV brand in 2016, by December 31^st.

Pl	Europe	Aug.	2016	%	'15Pl
1	Renault Zoe	857	13.864	11	2
2	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	1.028	12.803	10	1
3	Nissan Leaf	869	11.835	9	5
4	Tesla Model S	850	8.202	7	4
5 6 7	Volkswagen Golf GTE BMW i3 Volkswagen Passat GTE	787 1.317 916	7.524 6.916 6.358	6 5 5	3 6 12
8	Mercedes C350e	662	6.022	5	11
9	Volvo XC90 T8	332	5.884	5	18
10	Volkswagen e-Golf	538	4.920	4	4
11 12	BMW 330e Audi A3 e-Tron	501 268	4.432 4.157	4 3	37 7
13 14	BMW X5 40e BMW 225xe Active Tourer	201 449	3.140 2.968	3 2	22 32
15	Renault Kangoo ZE	298	2.588	2	13
16	Kia Soul EV	385	2.488	2	10
17	Mercedes B250e	466	2.292	2	17
18 19 20	Volvo V60 Plug-In Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia Porsche Cayenne Plug-In	231 252 190	2.129 1.995 1.845	2 2 1	9 15 14
	TOTAL	13.274	125.682