Iceland December 2017

Iceland's favorite vehicle

14% Share in 2017!

After a seemingly never ending trend of exponential growth, the Icelandic market hit the brakes last December, by registering 217 units, down 2% regarding the same month last year, but looking at full year sales, numbers are still going through the roof, with sales up 158% regarding the previous year, and the market share ending at a record 14%.

This is only the second market to reach the two digits and the mainstream market, after Norway. At this pace, i wouldn't be surprised if the 2018 market share reached some 30%.

At this pace, expect this market to surpass 50% share by 2020...Outlandish? Maybe, but i believe it's possible. 

Speaking of outlandish, the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV was the undisputed leader in 2017, with a record 884 units being registered, allowing it to be the November and December Best Seller in the mainstream auto market in Iceland.

The reason for this success? Well, it has a Plug and it's an SUV, which are the two main trends in the Icelandic auto market... 

Second Place went to the Nissan Leaf, which earned its third consecutive runner-up place, while the last place of the podium went for the Volvo XC90 PHEV.

The Rookie of the Year was the Renault Zoe, ending 2017 in #6, no doubt profiting from the long range that the ZE40 provides.

Two rising stars are making themselves noticed, with the Volvo XC60 PHEV jumping to #19, while the Kia Niro PHEV climbed to #18, in only their fourth month on the market.

Both models have all the right ingredients to be successful here, with SUV / Crossover body, and usable electric range (For a PHEV, at least). They could well be podium candidates next year... 

In the brands ranking, Mitsubishi (30%, up 1%) won the 2017 trophy, being only its second manufacturers title in this market (The first was in 2012).

The Japanese manufacturer was followed by #2 Nissan (18%, down 1%) and #3 Volvo (11%).

Pl	Iceland	Dec.	YTD	%	'16Pl
1 2 3 4	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV Nissan Leaf Volvo XC90 T8 Audi A3 e-Tron	72 18 23 11	884 523 271 122	30 17 9 4	1 2 5 11
5	Volkswagen Golf GTE	9	106	4	3
6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 14	Renault Zoe Volkswagen e-Golf Volkswagen Passat GTE Kia Optima PHEV Mercedes GLC350e BMW X5 40e BMW 225xe Active Tourer BMW i3 Porsche Cayenne Plug-In BMW 330e	5 4 9 1 7 5 1 4	85 81 80 69 67 53 52 51 50 49	3 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2	N/A 5 4 N/A 12 14 15 14 12 N/A
16 17 18 19	Mercedes GLE500e Audi Q7 e-Tron Kia Niro PHEV Volvo XC60 PHEV	3 12 14	47 46 43 41	2 2 1 1	9 10 N/A N/A
20	Mercedes C350e	8	38	1	22
21	Kia Soul EV		35	1	11
	Others	11	167	5
	TOTAL	217	2.990	100

Regular Hybrids + Plug-ins Ranking

Pl	Model	Dec. Sales
1	Mitsu. Outlander PHEV	72
2	Volvo XC90 PHEV	23
3	Nissan Leaf	18
4	Kia Niro HEV	16
5 5	Toyota Yaris Hybrid Volvo XC60 PHEV	14 14

In a market that reached two digits in 2017, plug-ins are becoming more and more synonym with overall best sellers, despite not having full access to the mainstream models ranking, we do have access to regular hybrid sales. 

If we add regular hybrids to plug-ins in December, the high share of these last ones is noticeable, as regular hybrids are being outrun by Plug-ins, with HEVs only having two representatives, in the form of the #4 Kia Niro HEV or the #5 Toyota Yaris Hybrid.

Looking at the Top 6 best sellers, we see representatives of each technology, with three PHEVs (#1 Outlander PHEV and #2 Volvo XC90 PHEV, and #5 Volvo XC60 PHEV), one BEV (#3 Nissan Leaf) and two HEVs.

As plug-ins continue to increase share, expect at some point in 2018 this Top 5 to be 100% PEV, with PHEVs winning customers that previously went to unplugged hybrids.