Europe February 2017

Renault Zoe leaves the competition in the dust

The European EV market had over 16.000 registrations last month, up 20% over February 2016, with YTD numbers up 38% YoY, the market is set to surpass the 300.000 units (310k?) by year end, while the EV share is firmly north of the 1% mark, this growth is in no small part due to a refreshed BEV, that has just got a 40 kWh battery...

Looking at the Monthly Models Ranking:

  

#1 Renault Zoe – After a few months delay on the delivery of the new battery, the French hatch deliveries skyrocketed since December, and February was no exception, with registrations up 74% YoY to 2.828 units. With sales in its domestic market and Norway in full swing, it was the performance in Germany (431 units) that surprised, delivering its best result in over a year.   

 

#2 BMW i3 – Proving that there’s no replacement for range when it comes to BEVs, the BMW hot hatch is up 85% YoY in Europe, all thanks to the 33 kWh battery kick, with sales in February reaching 1.455 units, with an interesting twist: While in the past, the extended range version outsold the pure electric one, the new battery significantly changed the mix, last month the BEV version represented 78% of all i3 deliveries…  

 

#3 Nissan Leaf – If recently upgraded EV’s are stealing the headlines, the fact is that the daddy of them all is still around and had another good sales month in February, by registering 1.327 units. With sales up 5% this year, the Nissan model is here to stay, with good numbers in many markets, namely Norway (408 units), France (277) or Germany (117).

 

#4 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV – After a tight race with the VW Passat GTE, the Japanese SUV won the Fourth Place, with 1.130 units, becoming also the Best-Selling PHEV in February. Once ruler of the European market, its sales have been slipping for a long time (Down another 12% last month), and although registering positive results in a couple of markets, like the 164 units in Germany, Mitsubishi hasn’t found a way to stop the bleeding, no doubt derived from an increasingly larger number of competitors and cuts in PHEV benefits in some countries.

 

#5 VW Passat GTE – The Volkswagen midsize offering continues to be a frequent presence here, this time reaching the Fifth Place, with 1.070 units. With the all-important Estate version profiting from almost non-existent competition, the Passat GTE has a big following in Norway and Sweden, performing 48% of its sales in those two Scandinavian countries. Now imagine how many sales Volvo is losing by not offering a PHEV version of its V90 estate…

   

Mercedes GLC350e: Climbing in the ranking

YTD Ranking – Renault Zoe leads, Mercedes GLC350e Shines

Looking at the YTD ranking, the Top 5 positions remained the same, with the Outlander PHEV recovering a little (60 units) on the distance over the #4 Passat GTE.

Below the first positions, several changes occurred, with the Tesla Model S (829 units, up 48% YoY) climbing one position to Sixth, the Mercedes GLC350e jumping two positions to #8, all while breaking again its personal best, with 725 deliveries (Will we see it reach four digits in March?), in the meantime, its car-related sibling, the C350e, was down to #10, due to a slow month of 432 registrations, its worst result in 16 months. I wonder where these sales have gone to…

Elsewhere, the BMW 330e rose one position to #11, while the Kia Soul EV jumped three places to #12.

On the losers side, we have two recently arrived models, with the Hyundai Ioniq Electric (145 units, worst result in four months), down three positions to #17, while the Tesla Model X dropped two positions to #13, with half the numbers of its Model S sibling.

With reservation deliveries now out of the way, it seems the new Tesla isn’t so much in demand as its older brother, with the SUV only frankly outselling its older brother in three countries (Norway, Switzerland and Luxembourg).

Looking at the manufacturers ranking, the trophy bearer BMW (19%, down 2%) is leading the way, but hot on the heels of the Zoe success, the Second Placed Renault (16%, up 1%) is approaching, while the Third Placed Volkswagen (12%) is keeping at a safe margin Mercedes and Nissan, both with 10% share.

Pl	Europe	Feb.	2017	%	'16Pl
1	Renault Zoe	2.828	5.468	16	1
2	BMW i3	1.455	3.274	9	4
3	Nissan Leaf	1.327	2.720	8	3
4	Volkswagen Passat GTE	1.070	2.432	7	5
5 6	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV Tesla Model S	1.130 829	2.245 1.654	7 5	2 6
7	Volvo XC90 T8	489	1.558	5	9
8	Mercedes GLC350e	725	1.376	4	26
9	BMW 225xe Active Tourer	664	1.356	4	13
10 11 12	Mercedes C350e BMW 330e Kia Soul EV	432 452 472	1.105 983 894	3 3 3	8 10 15
13 14	Tesla Model X BMW X5 40e	305 300	886 821	3 2	20 14
15	Audi A3 e-Tron	420	800	2	11
16	Volkswagen Golf GTE	295	687	2	7
17	Hyundai Ioniq Electric	145	633	2	32
18 19 20	Audi Q7 e-Tron Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia Volkswagen e-Golf Others	201 255 299 2.421	600 587 572 5.250	2 2 2 11	19 16 12
	TOTAL	16.514	35.901

Also published on Cleantechnica and EV Obsession