Netherlands December 2016

VW Passat GTE: December's Best Selling Model in Dutch lands

The Flood

Over 11.000 plug-ins were sold last month (Some 30% of all cars registered in December), representing almost the same number of units sold in the previous 11 months, and becoming the Second Best Selling month ever, only behind a similar flood occurred at the same time last year. Blame it on receding incentives and fleet managers looking for fiscal benefits for company cars...

Anyway, better late than never and it's always better to have a PHEV running in hybrid mode than another stinky diesel, right?

This last minute surge pulled the YTD numbers to 23.114 units and the Market Share to 6%, only below the 9.6% of 2015.

Looking at December Top 5 ranking, the Monthly Best Seller award went for the third time in a row to the fleet-favorite VW Passat GTE, with 2.707 units, a new personal best for the German Midsizer, followed by a classic in Dutch lands (Over 26.000 registered since 2013!), the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, with 1.065 registrations (It had only 313 units sold until November...) and the BMW 330e, with 1.033 units (New record).

In Fourth Place we have a surprise, with the Audi Q7 e-Tron pulling a record 947 units. 

Pl	Model	Sales
1	Volkswagen Passat GTE	2.707
2	Mit. Outlander PHEV	1.065
3	BMW 330e	1.033
4	Audi Q7 e-Tron	947
4	Mercedes C350e	892

In the YTD ranking, the high numbers of December transformed the Best Sellers table, with the VW Passat GTE jumping for the First Position, with 3.987 units, followed by the BMW 330e (2.418) and Volvo XC90 T8 (2.230), as a curiosity, the oldest model in the podium, the XC90, is just 16 months old, which says a lot of the changing dynamics.

Several fleet favorites have climbed in the ranking, like the Mercedes C350e (892 units, year best) climbing to #4, the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV jumping five positions to #7, while the just arrived Mercedes E350e surged to #10, thanks to 723 units, becoming the Best Selling model of the E-Segment. Something for Tesla to consider in the coming year...

In fact, Mercedes has to thank this last minute surge of the E350e for winning the class Best Seller title, with 2.266 units, if it weren't the 931 units of its plug-in version, the big Merc would be behind the Tesla Model S (1.723 units), with the Third Placed BMW 5-Series (1.489 units) in need of  its upcoming 530e version to be back on the race.

This necessity for plug-in versions to achieve success in the Netherlands is replicated in other high-end segments, in the F-Segment/Full size class, the Best Selling model was the BMW 7 Series, but if we break down models by fuel source, the BMW 740e would be Third with 160 units, and this despite having arrived just in August.

This trend is also visible in the Luxury SUV class, where the Best Selling model was the Volvo XC90 T8, while in the D-Segment/Midsize class, the VW Passat GTE was the second best selling model, only behind the regular ICE Passat.

The Best Selling BEV was once again the Tesla Model S, something that has been happening since 2013, in 2016 it was #5 with 1.723 units, slightly behind the 1.891 units of  2015, but adding the 426 units of the Model X, Tesla continued to grow in 2016.

The Best Selling MPV was the BMW 225xe Act. Tourer, #11 with 863 units, succeeding the Ford C-Max Energi, while in the Small Car class another BMW took the trophy, with the #14 BMW i3 winning for the third consecutive time this trophy, with only 505 units, its worst performance since 2013.

The Rookie of the Year was the Audi Q7 e-Tron, #6 with 1.594 units, easily winning this category.

Looking at the manufacturers ranking, there was a complete reshuffle due to the December Flood, Volkswagen jumped from Third to the leadership (23%, up 7%), winning its second consecutive Manufacturers title, displacing the previous leader BMW (18%, down 3%) to Second Place and Volvo (14%, down 2%) to Third. Just outside the podium were Mercedes (13%) and Audi (10%), while Tesla fell to Sixth, with 9% share.

Finally, in the BEV/PHEV breakdown, pure electrics managed to recover ground, growing from 10% in 2015 to 19% this year. 

Pl	Netherlands	Dec.	YTD	%	'15Pl
1 2	Volkswagen Passat GTE BMW 330e	2.707 1.033	3.987 2.418	17 10	6 25
3	Volvo XC90 T8	764	2.230	10	7
4	Mercedes C350e	892	1.871	8	5
5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12	Tesla Model S Audi Q7 e-Tron Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV Volkswagen Golf GTE Volvo V60 Plug-In Mercedes E350e BMW 225xe Active Tourer Audi A3 e-Tron	251 947 1.065 712 618 723 303 510	1.723 1.594 1.378 1.079 1.016 931 863 718	7 7 6 5 4 4 4 3	8 N/A 1 2 3 N/A 17 4
13	Nissan Leaf	75	666	3	13
14 15 16 17 18	BMW i3 * Tesla Model X Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia** Renault Zoe BMW 740e	118 130 21 13 68	505 426 238 183 160	2 2 1 1 1	12 N/A 15 14 N/A
19	Volkswagen e-Golf	2	137	1	28
20	Mercedes B250e	2	117	1	19
21 22 23 24	Kia Optima PHEV Porsche Cayenne Plug-In Hyundai Ioniq Electric Volkswagen e-Up!	61 12 43 12	110 106 102 80	0 0 0 0	N/A 10 N/A 28
25	Toyota Prius Plug-In	5	78	0	22
26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35	BMW X5 40e Kia Soul EV Renault Kangoo ZE BMW i8 Mercedes GLE500e Mercedes GLC350e Renault Twizy Porsche Panamera Plug-In Peugeot iOn Mercedes S500e Others	12 8 1 5 1 10 2 1 7	70 60 50 48 44 38 18 17 16 11 26	0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	11 24 25 20 27 N/A 28 21 N/A 18
	TOTAL	11.132	23.114	100

                   

* - 113 Bev + 8 Rex
* - 11 LCV + 10 Pass

Source: RAI Vereniging; Autoweek.nl

Models breakdown by Fuel Source

Pl	Model	Sales
1	Volkswagen Passat GTE	2.707
2	Renault Clio	1.150
3	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	1.065
4	BMW 330e	1.033
5 6 7 8 9 10	Audi Q7 Mercedes C350e Opel Astra Renault Mégane Toyota Aygo Toyota Yaris	947 892 860 796 792 782

With some 30% share in December, plug-ins performance in the general ranking was more relevant than ever, so this month it was interesting to do the same exercise we do in Norway and breakdown the Best Selling models by fuel source.

Splitting models by fuel source, the VW Passat GTE was by far the best selling model in the Netherlands, with 2.707 units, followed by the Renault Clio, with 1.150 units, with four(!) PHEV's following the French hatchback, making it five plug-ins in the Top 6 positions, something that not even Norway can match.

In the remaining four positions we have three regular ICE models, while in Tenth we have the Toyota Yaris, where the majority of the sales were of the Hybrid variety (441 units out of 782), making it the Best Selling HEV in December.