Germany February 2017

Getting Warmer

Some 2.918 plug-in passenger cars were registered last month in Germany, up 50% YoY, with the EV Share rising slightly to a new record (1.2%), significantly above from the 0.75% registered last year, it's been a long time coming, but it seems the German market is finally warming up to plug-ins.

Looking at the February Best Selling models, the Renault Zoe had its best result in over a year (431 units), doubling the deliveries it had a year ago, it seems the local importer finally had enough ZE40 units to make an impression, will this high number be the new normal or will sales drop once the novelty factor fades?

The BMW i3 (305 units) continues on a high note, while its 225xe Active Tourer relative broke its own record in February, with 282 registrations, no doubt helped by the incentives scheme, while the remaining models on this Top 5 had positive results, although the Soul EV performances here should be always be considered with a grain of salt...

Pl	Model	Sales
1	Renault Zoe	431
2	BMW i3	305
3	BMW 225xe Active Tourer	282
3	Kia Soul EV	282
5	Audi A3 e-Tron	171

Looking at the YTD ranking, the Top Two BMW i3 and Renault Zoe are already gaining ground on the remaining competition, so it looks the 2017 race will be a two horse race. like in the previous year.

The Kia Soul EV climbed to Fourth, benefitting on the Outlander PHEV three positions drop.

The  veteran Citroen C-Zero had its best result in four years(!), with 25 registrations, jumping four positions to #23, while its Peugeot iOn twin is doing even better, its #18 with 93 units, its best result EVER since it landed in German lands, 600 seven years ago. I bet the incentives scheme has something to do with this...

Speaking of PSA brands, in February the Opel Ampera-e added na additional 15 units to the tally, climibing two positions to #30, no doubt still demonstration units, with volume numbers said to arrive during Summer, expect it to jump into the Top 10 afterwards and maybe win a Bronze Medal by year end.

In the manufacturers ranking, BMW (25%, up 3%) is in the lead, followed by Volkswagen and Mercedes, both with 10% share.

An interesting bit of trivia is that BEV's are growing faster (102% vs 16%) than PHEV's, which is a good indication for the remainder of the year, especially considering the e-Golf and Ampera-e are still to make its mark in the market.

Pl	Germany	Feb.	YTD	%	'16 Pl
1 2	BMW i3 * Renault Zoe	305 431	693 611	12 11	1 2
3 4	BMW 225xe Active Tourer Kia Soul EV	282 282	492 459	9 8	10 7
5 6	Mitsu. Outlander PHEV Audi A3 e-Tron	164 171	446 328	8 6	6 4
7	Volkswagen Passat GTE	121	278	5	9
8	Tesla Model S	163	259	5	5
9	Nissan Leaf	117	232	4	11
10 11 12	Volkswagen e-Up! Mercedes C350e  e) Volvo XC90 T8	102 65 52	195 160 140	3 3 2	17 15 13
13 14 15	Mercedes B250e Mercedes GLC350e  Audi Q7 e-Tron	61 71 42	129 126 102	2 2 2	18 23 13
16	Mercedes E350e	41	95	2	32
17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 24 24 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35	Tesla Model X Peugeot iOn Mercedes GLE500e BMW 330e Porsche Cayenne Plug-In Volkswagen e-Golf BMW 740e Citröen C-Zero BMW i8 Volkswagen Golf GTE Hyundai Ioniq Electric Mercedes S500e   e) Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia BMW X5 40e Opel Ampera-e Porsche Panamera PHEV Volvo V60 Plug-In BMW 530e Mini Countryman PHEV Others	39 39 38 51 33 29 21 25 25 15 12 24 14 14 15 9 13 11 7 14	94 93 90 75 54 50 47 43 41 41 41 39 35 32 28 26 20 13 7 19	2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	19 31 24 20 21 12 28 34 27 8 20 26 29 22 N/A 30 25 N/A N/A
	TOTAL	2.918	5.633	100

* - 168 Bev + 137 Rex 

Source: kba.de

Tesla Model S & Others

Pl	Model	Feb. Sales
1	Audi A7	374
2	Porsche Panamera	237
3	Tesla Model S	163
4	Mercedes CLS	144
5	BMW 6-Series	127

Looking at the Premium Sports Sedans class, the usual winner Mercedes CLS is down to Fourth, no doubt in need for a new Generation, with the Audi A7 inheriting the Throne, with 374 units.

Interestingly, the Porsche Panamera is Second, with 237 units, no doubt benefitting from the new generation push, followed by the Tesla Model S, up 79% YoY to 163 units, a great result considering we are not in last-month-of-quarter season.