FRANCE March 2016

Zoe ZE40 pulls the market to record levels

The French EV passenger car market had 3.824 registrations last month, up only 3% YoY, but as March 2016 had set the previous sales record, we are back record levels, with YTD numbers now up 15%.

The main reason for the positive numbers is the massive success of the 40 kWh version of the Renault Zoe, selling 1.980 units, a new deliveries record for a single model in the French market, leaving the remaining competition in the dust. 

It seems these new sales levels are now consolidated, which could lead this market to over 3% share by the end of the year, which would double the previous year record. 

In the remaining March main positions, besides the usual Nissan Leaf (#2, with 311 units) and BMW i3 (#4, 159), two Mercedes excel: The GLC350e recorded 169 units, a new personal best for the second time on a row for the SUV, while its regular sedan relative, the C350e, also pulled out a massive 157 units, an impressive result considering the previous sales record of the nameplate had been 32, curiously made in the previous month…

Is Mercedes feeling the stench of Diesel and finally promoting properly their plug-ins in France?  

Pl	Model	Sales
1	Renault Zoe	1.980
2	Nissan Leaf	311
3	Mercedes GLC350e	169
4	BMW i3 *	159
5	Mercedes C350e	157

In a market known for its stability, the most eventful change was the rise to the Fifth position by the Mercedes GLC350e, now set to overcome the Peugeot iOn next month.

In what can only be considered as a good month for Mercedes, the  C350e model also deserves a mention, jumping nine positions to #8^, with the tree-pointed-star model shooting 18 positions in only two months.

In the brands ranking, Renault (52%, down 2%) continues to be the Master In Command, followed at a distance by BMW (8%, down 1%) and Nissan (7%), with Mercedes (6%) now looking to overcome these last two in the following months.

Pl	France	March	2017	%	'15Pl
1	Renault Zoe	1.980	5.191	52	1
2	Nissan Leaf	311	733	7	2
3	BMW i3 *	159	440	4	4
4	Peugeot iOn	143	365	4	5
5	Mercedes GLC350e	169	328	3	25
6	Kia Soul EV	64	236	2	7
7	Tesla Model S	106	206	2	9
8 9	Mercedes C350e Volvo XC90 PHEV	157 68	197 168	2 2	25 10
10 11 12 13	BMW 225xe Active Tourer Volkswagen Passat GTE Audi A3 e-Tron Citröen C-Zero	64 47 49 33	164 128 117 116	2 1 1 1	18 20 12 11
13	BMW X5 40e	48	111	1	13
14	Tesla Model X	60	99	1	32 23
15 16 17	Porsche Cayenne PHEV BMW 330e Audi Q7 e-Tron	51 28 49	92 80 78	1 1 1	16 23 37
18	Hyundai Ioniq Electric	25	74	1	31
19 20 21 22 23 23 25 26 26 28 29 30 31 32 33 33 33	Mercedes E350e Citröen e-Mehari Volkswagen e-Up!  Kia Optima PHEV Volkswagen Golf GTE Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia Mercedes GLE500e Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV Mitsubishi I-Miev BMW 740e Toyota Prius PHEV Bolloré Blue Car Volvo V60 Plug-In BMW i8 BMW 530e Mercedes S500e Volkswagen e-Golf Others	53 28 28 20 9 17 14 7 9 9 12 1 1 3 1	69 58 49 38 34 34 25 23 23 18 16 12 6 5 3 3 3 2	1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	41 19 27 30 6 15 33 22 34 37 38 N/A 40 36 N/A 42 35
	TOTAL	3.824	9.345

Source: Avere France

* - 72 BEV + 87 REX