Norway May 2017

VW e-Golf: "I'm back!"

VW e-Golf #1 in May

The Norwegian plug-in market grew 31% in May to 4.329 units, resuming the growing trend interrupted last month, with YTD numbers now up 39% to 21.086 units and placing the plug-in share at 33%.

Looking at May Top Sellers, the mass delivery of the new 36 kWh VW e-Golf allowed the German nameplate to return to the highest place in the podium, with 457 units, its best result in 13 months, followed by the BMW i3, with 410 units.

The Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV closes the podium, with 343 units, while the refreshed VW Golf GTE already shows up at the Top 5 Best Sellers, thanks to 272 registrations, its best result of the year.

Pl	Model	Sales
1	Volkswagen e-Golf	457
2	BMW i3	410
3	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	343
4	Volkswagen Passat GTE	340
5 5	Volkswagen Golf GTE Nissan Leaf	272 272

Looking at the YTD ranking, the most important changes were the VW Golf GTE climbing to Seventh Place, while the Tesla Model X climbed to Ninth, surpassing the Volvo XC90 PHEV (64 units, worst result of the year) and becoming the Best Selling Luxury plugin SUV.

Interestingly, the Mercedes models have been scoring above average performances, with two of them even hitting record numbers in May, like the C350e (168 units) and the E350e (40), which could signal a more deep commitment from the German OEM regarding plug-ins.

In the second half of the ranking, three rookies deserve a mention, the Second Generation Toyota Prius PHV was up to #24, thanks to 53 units, while the BMW 530e delivered an impressive 61 units and jumped to #25, but the real star was the Opel Ampera-e, registering 230 units in its first volume delivery month, allowing the Opel model to jump to #21, with a waiting list of 5.000-plus units, it has come the time to Opel and General Motors to prove they want the model to succeed, if the car does not reach the Monthly Top 3 in June, i would be really disappointed. Hey, hurry up with Norway, the rest of Europe also wants the Ampera-e delivered!

Now that you think about it, considering June is end-of-quarter month (= Tesla fever), the restyled Golf sibling are now in full deliveries mode, the Renault Zoe must have its QC units hiccups solved this month and the BMW i3 is still selling like hot cakes, it looks like a perfect storm is looming to deliver a record month (5.000 units?) by the end of June...Fingers Crossed!

In the manufacturers ranking, Volkswagen (22%) is back at the leadership, but BMW (19%, up 1%) is getting closer, with Mercedes (13% share, up 1%) in Third Place, followed by Nissan (9%).

Pl	Norway	May	YTD	%	'16Pl
1	BMW i3	410	2.349	11	5
2	Nissan Leaf	272	1.818	9	4
3	Volkswagen Passat GTE	340	1.636	8	6
4 5	Volkswagen e-Golf Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	457 343	1.572 1.454	7 7	2 1
6	Mercedes GLC350e	248	1.193	6	21
7 8 9	Volkswagen Golf GTE Renault Zoe Tesla Model X	272 108 138	1.072 1.023 898	5 5 4	3 10 11
10	Volvo XC90 T8	64	841	4	19
11	BMW 225xe Active Tourer	179	739	4	12
12 13 14 15 16	Mercedes B250e Hyundai Ioniq Electric Tesla Model S Audi A3 e-Tron Mercedes C350e	177 152 88 104 168	734 697 611 607 534	3 3 3 3 3	9 20 8 7 15
17	BMW X5 40e	81	484	2	16
18 19	Volvo V60 Plug-In Audi Q7 e-Tron	62 72	473 446	2 2	17 22
20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35	Volkswagen e-Up! Opel Ampera-e Kia Soul EV BMW 330e Toyota Prius PHV BMW 530e Mercedes GLE500e Mitsubishi I-Miev Porsche Cayenne Plug-In Peugeot iOn Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia Mercedes E350e Citröen C-Zero BMW 740e Kia Optima PHEV Ford Focus Electric Others	55 230 29 37 53 61 8 8 14 14 17 40 16 3 5 4	317 245 228 181 143 108 107 99 95 94 91 80 43 24 23 21 6	2 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	14 N/A 13 24 N/A N/A 28 25 30 23 18 N/A 26 38 39 32
	TOTAL	4.329	21.086	100

Source: elbil.no; ofvas.no

Models breakdown by Fuel Source

Pl	Model	Sales
1	Toyota Auris	470
2	Skoda Octavia	469
3	Volkswagen e-Golf	457
4	Toyota RAV4	434
5 6 7 8 9 10	BMW i3 Toyota Yaris Toyota C-HR Volkswagen Golf ICE Mitsu Outlander PHEV Volkswagen Passat GTE	410 400 392 390 343 340

With 33% share, plug-ins are spreading across the general ranking, breaking the general ranking by fuel source, the VW e-Golf reached the podium, behind the Toyota Auris and Skoda Octavia(!), with the BMW i3 in #5 and two PHEVs (Outlander PHEV and Passat GTE) closing the Top 10.

The remaining positions went to four HEV's, all from Toyota, with two ICE models still resisting in the ranking.

But it won't be for long (June?), with the Ampera-e and others knocking on the door, it won't be long until we see a completely electrified Top 10...