Norway June 2017

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

Historical Month

It is for posts like this that i started EV Sales, when boundaries get pushed further and electrification gets another step into uncharted territory...

But enough of lyricisms followed by harp melodies, the fact is that the Norwegian plug-in market grew 65% last month to a record 6.009 units, this representing an unheard 42% share of the total market. For the BEV purists, there were also good news, with an amazing 27% of the market being BEV, so the share growth came from all-electrics.

Add to these historical numbers the 10% share recorded by HEVs, and you have another record, with 52% of the total Norwegian market being electrified in June! Truly historical.

YTD numbers are now up 47% to 27.095 units, pulling the plug-in share to a new high, 35%. Will it reach 40% share by year end? Maybe even surpassing 50% in a couple of months?

Anyway, looking in detail at June Top Sellers, we can see the perfect storm that originated this historical result: The mass delivery of the new 36 kWh VW e-Golf allowed the German nameplate to return its best result in 26 months, with 874 units, the Tesla Model X had its usual end-of-quarter-peak, this time with a record 609 deliveries, the Renault Zoe left its QC constraints behind to deliver 428 units, its best result in 12 months, followed by the BMW i3, with 420 registrations, and still benefitting from the 33kWh battery boost.

Last but not the least, Opel finally started to deliver in high volumes the highly antecipated Ampera-e, registering 389 units in June, just ahead of the 384 Nissan Leaf deliveries, making six(!) BEVs is the Top 6...We hadn't seen so many BEVs in the Top at least since 2014!

Pl	Model	Sales
1	Volkswagen e-Golf	874
2	Tesla Model X	609
3	Renault Zoe	428
4	BMW i3	420
5	Opel Ampera-e	389

Looking at the YTD ranking, the most important changes were the VW e-Golf climbing to Second Place, and with the leader BMW i3 less some 300 units ahead, i bet July will see VW's all-electric hatchback reclaim the Leadership position for the first time this year.

The Tesla Model X also jumped in the ranking, now being #6 and pulling the Tesla boat upstream, now that the Model S seems...tired (242 units in June, worst peak month in almost two years).

Also interesting is the performance of the Renault Zoe, up to #8, thanks to the 428 June deliveries, all while the Opel Ampera-e jumped once again, now to #16,  and is now looking the Top 10 during the Summer. One thing is certain for the sporty hatch: It will be by far the 2017 Rookie of the Year.

In the manufacturers ranking, Volkswagen (22%) is at the leadership steering wheel, with BMW (17%, down 2%) losing a bit of gas charge, while Mercedes (11% share, down 2%) in Third Place, is now followed by Tesla (9%).

Small footnote: Two additional Toyota Mirai were added in June to the FCEV stock...

Pl	Norway	June	YTD	%	'16Pl
1	BMW i3	420	2.769	10	5
2	Volkswagen e-Golf	874	2.446	9	2
3	Nissan Leaf	384	2.202	8	4
4 5	Volkswagen Passat GTE Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	260 349	1.896 1.803	7 7	6 1
6 7	Tesla Model X Mercedes GLC350e	609 301	1.507 1.494	6 6	11 21
8 9	Renault Zoe Volkswagen Golf GTE	428 163	1.451 1.235	5 5	10 3
10	BMW 225xe Active Tourer	208	947	3	12
11	Mercedes B250e	210	944	3	9
12 13 14 15 16 17	Volvo XC90 T8 Hyundai Ioniq Electric Tesla Model S Audi A3 e-Tron Opel Ampera-e Mercedes C350e	81 182 242 121 389 69	922 879 853 728 634 603	3 3 3 3 2 2	19 20 8 7 N/A 15
18	BMW X5 40e	83	567	2	16
19 20	Audi Q7 e-Tron Volvo V60 Plug-In	92 54	538 527	2 2	22 17
21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35	Volkswagen e-Up! Kia Soul EV BMW 330e Toyota Prius PHV BMW 530e Mercedes GLE500e Mercedes E350e Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia Mitsubishi I-Miev Peugeot iOn Porsche Cayenne Plug-In Citröen C-Zero Kia Optima PHEV BMW 740e Ford Focus Electric Others	61 82 24 54 40 21 39 18 9 10 6 10 20 1 3 82	378 310 205 197 148 128 119 109 108 104 101 53 43 25 24 98	1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	14 13 24 N/A N/A 28 N/A 18 25 23 30 26 39 38 32
	TOTAL	6.009	27.095	100

Source: elbil.no; ofvas.no

Models breakdown by Fuel Source

Pl	Model	Sales
1	Volkswagen e-Golf	874
2	Tesla Model X	609
3	Renault Zoe	428
4	BMW i3	420
5 6 7 8 9 10	Opel Ampera-e Nissan Leaf Skoda Octavia Toyota RAV4 Mitsu. Outlander PHEV Toyota Yaris	389 384 364 350 349 343

With 42% share in June, the general market was bound to see significant changes in PEV favour, and indeed they occurred, breaking the general ranking by fuel source, the top six(!) models were all BEV, with the VW e-Golf reaching the leadership once again.

The remaining positions were distributed by two HEVs (Toyota's RAV4 and Yaris), one PHEV (Outlander PHEV) and only one regular ICE car, the Skoda Octavia.

With this most recent ranking in mind, i believe it is safe to say that this year won't end without a completely electrified Top 10...

Bets anyone? When will it be and who will replace the Octávia in the Top 10?