Iceland September 2019

Outlander PHEV: Best selling vehicle in Iceland.

PEV market returns to growth in September

After a string of falling months, the plugin market was back in black last month, with 260 registrations, a 5% increase YoY, minimizing the yearly drop to -19% YoY, something that could be considered catastrophic, if the overall market wasn't dropping even faster (-30% YoY).

Also interestingly, Iceland was known for being a market where plugin hybrids have played a major role for a long time, but currently PHEV sales are down 41%(!) this year, and while BEVs are still a minority (42%), their significant growth (up 77% this year), should make them the preferred powertrain technology next year. 

Add the fact that Tesla is (finally!) landing officially, and there is even more reasons to believe this...

As a result of all these changes, this year PEV share isn't all that bad (19%), with September reaching 28%, so expect a strong Q4, sharewise, allowing the Icelandic plugin market to end north of 20% in 2019.

Looking at the models ranking, the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV reigns supreme, hitting a year best result last month, with 69 registrations, while the Hyundai Kona EV is in a surprising 3rd spot, and it could be higher up, if it weren't the usual problems with allocations (Hyundai Iceland could join the chorus of their fellow Hyundai European importers...).

With no allocation problems seems to be the eternal VW e-Golf, that delivered 18 units last month, a new year best, confirming the idea that the veteran German BEV is ending its career in full charge.

BMW had a good month in September, with the 225xe A. Tourer jumping 6 positions to #10, while the fresh off the boat new BMW X5 PHEV scored 8 deliveries, a new year best for the nameplate, which seems to indicate a successful career for the second generation of the BMW tank SUV.

In the brands ranking, Mitsubishi (22%) is in the leadership, followed by the #2 Volvo (12%), while the new 3rd placed Nissan (11%) is now threatening the Swedish carmaker's Silver Medal.

Models breakdown by fuel source

Pl	Model	2019 Sales
1	Mitsu. Outlander PHEV	487
2	Toyota RAV4 Hybrid	255
2	Nissan Leaf	252
4	Hyundai Kona EV	168
5 6 7 8 9 10	Nissan Qashqai Toyota Land Cruiser Volvo XC90 PHEV Toyota Yaris Hybrid Volvo XC60 PHEV Toyota Corolla Hybrid	158 155 140 133 117 108

In a market where plugins are hovering at 20% share, plug-ins are becoming more and more synonym with overall best sellers, despite not having full access to the mainstream models ranking, what we have got is enough to make a draft of the local overall market. 

If we mix all powertrains together, the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV is by far the best selling vehicle in the country, while the high share of plugins is noticeable, as they make half of the Top 10, while HEVs have 3 representatives, all from Toyota.

Looking at regular ICE representatives, the best only shows in #5, with the two being crossovers/SUVs, that do not have a direct plugin competitor.

As plug-ins continue to increase share, expect at some point in 2020 this Top 10 to be 100% xEV, with regular ICE models being slowly, but surely, pushed out.