France September 2016 (Updated)

A future Best Seller?

 Kia Optima PHEV Lands with a Bang

The French EV market had 3.026 registrations last month, a 9% improvement YoY, a positive result, with the EV Share slightly up to 1.68%, a significant departure from the 1.41% of 2015.

Looking at the monthly models ranking, the big surprise was the thunderous arrival of the Kia Optima PHEV, with 152 units, shooting immediately to Third in September, scoring a new record for a landing month, while also being the second best performance for a plug-in hybrid this year.

Elsewhere, besides the usual Zoe, Leaf and Kangoo ZE, the Tesla Model S also joined the Top 5, scoring its best performance (132 deliveries) since last March. 

Pl	Model	Sales
1	Renault Zoe	867
2	Nissan Leaf	283
3	Kia Optima PHEV	152
4	Renault Kangoo ZE	146
5	Tesla Model S	132

France is known for being a stable market, with little changes in the ranking, and September confirms this, one has to go down to #9, with the Tesla Model S rising two positions and surpassing the Volvo XC90 T8 to Ninth Place. 

The Citröen C-Zero also climbed two positions, to #11, thanks to 109 registrations, its best result in four years(!), while the VW Passat GTE jumped five places to #21, thanks to a record 128 units.

Looking at the brands ranking, Renault (Leader since 2011) continues to be the Master In Command, with 42% share (Down 1%), followed at a distance by Nissan (14%) and BMW (9%).

Pl	France	Sep.	2016	%	'15Pl
1	Renault Zoe	867	8.348	33	1
2	Nissan Leaf	283	3.108	12	3
3	Renault Kangoo ZE	146	1.809	7	2
4	BMW i3	111	981	4	8
5	Peugeot iOn	127	956	4	9
6	Volkswagen Golf GTE	97	843	3	4
7	Bolloré Blue Car	78	753	3	5
8	Kia Soul EV	96	725	3	13
9 10 11 12	Tesla Model S Volvo XC90 T8 Citröen C-Zero Audi A3 e-Tron	132 45 109 37	617 614 558 531	2 2 2 2	10 N/A 15 6
13	BMW X5 40e	41	493	2	20
14	Citröen e-Mehari	18	458	2	N/A
15	BMW 225xe Active Tourer	62	386	2	N/A
16	Volkswagen Passat GTE	128	359	1	19
17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35	Renault Twizy e) Nissan e-NV200/Evalia ** Goupil Porsche Cayenne PHEV Peugeot Partner EV  BMW 330e Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV Mercedes C350e Bolloré Blue Summer Citröen Berlingo EV Kia Optima PHEV  Audi Q7 e-Tron  Volkswagen e-Up! Volkswagen e-Golf Mitsubishi I-Miev Mercedes GLE500e Volvo V60 Plug-In BMW i8 Mercedes B250e Others	20 37 33 33 47 33 31 23 6 67 152 34 2 6 9 9 2 1 8 55	345 338 335 332 328 243 226 194 189 174 152 130 126 79 78 71 63 60 55 106	1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	11 16 14 12 21 N/A 7 27 N/A 23 N/A N/A 18 22 30 31 26 25 24
	TOTAL	3.026	25.263

** - 14 Pass + 23 LCV

Sources: Avere France


New Zoe ZE 40 Demand 

On the aftermath of the Paris Auto Show, where the 40 kWh Renault Zoe became the first Long-Range(ish) to hit the market (Take that, Bolt and Model 3!), with orders being taken since Day One of the Mondial, one wondered how well it was received by consumers, and how much was the demand.

Without Tesla-like announcements, someone contacted the French car maker and got this response: "The Zoe is the model in demand at the Renault Stand".

Meaning that it was the best selling model in the Renault line up at the Auto Show, ahead of the Clio, Captur or the recent Megane best sellers, and let's not forget that the electric model is a few years old...

Now, it's still too early to say the Zoe production will supplant that of the Clio at the Flins factory, but if Renault is bullish and pushes the Zoe sales properly, it can already prepare the Europe's 2017 Best Selling EV Award, together with the 2016 Title...

Original article (In French), English Translation.