Quo Vadis, Renault?
The French PEV passenger car market registered 2.331 units in January, down 14% YoY, mostly due to the horrid month of the Renault Zoe (-62% YoY), that with only 633 registrations, had its worst performance in 14 months...Considering the model has still a 3 to 4 months waiting list, it's not for lack of demand, which poses the question: Why isn't Renault increasing the production rate of its electric model?
Looking elsewhere in January, if BEVs were down because of the Renault Zoe slump and the Nissan Leaf generation change, PHEVs were up a remarkable 129%, placing two models in the Top 5, with both models being midsize SUVs (Volvo XC60 PHEV and Mercedes GLC350e), which tells a lot regarding the current market trends.
Silver went to the BMW i3, no big surprises here, but the Kia Soul EV reaching Bronze, with 136 registrations (Best performance in almost two years), was unexpected, was this a freak event or is the local Kia importer pushing sales of its little BEV? Let's wait for further developments on this one.
Underlining the current strength of Volvo, the Swedish brand placed two models in the Top 10, besides the #5 XC60 PHEV, the XC90 PHEV flagship was Eighth last month, thanks to 79 registrations, its best performance in 20 months.
Looking at the brands ranking, the year starts with the same podium as it ended 2017, with the leader Renault always in #1, but this time with only 27% share, with last year runner-up BMW growing their share to 13%, and the 2017 Bronze medalist Mercedes increasing to 9% share.
Sources: Avere France; CCFA
The global Zoe sales number was 1988 in January 2018.
ReplyDeleteThe only month with worse numbers was April 2017 when they did have severe production problems.
What could be the reason the Zoe is not delivered in the same numbers as in december? The orders are in.
Exacly, they have a waiting list to satisfy, there are no known production issues...
DeleteMy only explanation is that Renault is prioritizing the Clio production over the Zoe at the Flins factory, due to higher profit margins coming from the ICE model.
I just return from my Renault dealer. I made a testdrive in a Zoe and delivery would have been planned for week 22 if I had ordered one.
DeleteWith this freezing weather not enough range to reach my mother-in-law, no sale.
And one knows how important mother-in-laws are... :)
DeleteAre you now waiting for the 60kWh Leaf? Or something else?
My minimum requirement is 60kWh and ProPilot. I walked with a limp after the testdrive (my constitution, nothing wrong with the Zoë), and my mother-in-law is 97.
DeleteShe is important and lives 150 miles away.
Yep, the Leaf 60kWh could be a perfect fit.
DeleteAll the best!
New 110hp electric engine in Zoe, perhaps. Also master ze van (same zoe engine) and new Kangoo ze33. If you count smart ev engines required by mercedes, so i think problem could be engine production hell (like tesla model 3).
ReplyDeleteCould be it.
DeleteThanks for pointing that out!