Slovakia May 2020 (Draft)

Local heroes lead hot market

Despite the pandemic and the dog days of the local automotive marke (-38% YoY), the PEV market in Slovakia is on fire, with sales up 190% this year, with the PEV share in May reaching 1.6%, in line with the 2020 PEV share. 

And don't think this is thanks to tax dodging PHEVs, as 62% of all plug-ins sold this year were BEVs...With all-electrics growing faster (+245%) than plugin hybrids. This is a market that not only is growing fast, but it is doing so with a BEV prevalence. Keep up the good work, Slovakia!

Essential to this brilliant result are the locally made Skoda Citigo EV and VW e-Up, respectively #1 and #2 in the table, with the German-badged version scoring a record 24 registrations last month. Both counted together, they make 28% of the total plugin market.

Looking elsewhere, the Skoda Superb PHEV is #3, with 52 registrations, while the #4 Renault Zoe is far behind the podium bearers, with just 21 units registered.

Outside the Top 5, a mention to the rising Hyunda Kona EV, #6 with 19 registrations, 3 of them last month, while the Porsche Taycan is also popular, already registering 11 units this year, 4 of them in May. 

In the manufacturers ranking, Skoda (27%) is leading with a sizeable margin, with Volkswagen in Second (14%) and BMW (9%) in 3rd, while Hyundai and Porsche(!), both with 7% share, are looking to close in on the Bavarian maker. 

Looking for EVs - From Slovenia to Poland

Fast-Chargers on highways: A must.

Slovenia - One of the good things about Slovenia is the existence of fast-chargers on the highway service stations, something that some countries with higher plugin shares tend to forget and it is essential to make longer trips more comfortable.

On the local EV fauna, we saw 1 Nissan Leaf, 1 Renault Zoe and 1 Citroen C-Zero. Oh, and a VW Golf GTE with Dutch license plates (they do like to travel abroad, don't they?).

It felt like a tourist (and EV) friendly place, and local radios weren't bad either, with the news being broadcasted in Slovenian, English and German (?!?).

3 EVs in Budapest

Hungary - We saw 2 Nissan Leaf and 1 Opel Ampera on the countryside, but it was on the fancy area of Budapest (Buda), that we saw an EV Bonanza: countless Leaf, i3's, e-Golf...plus 2 e-Up!, 2 e-NV200, 1 Smart EV, 1 Kia Soul EV, 1 Fiat 500e(!!!)...With plenty of PHEVs too, with the Opel Ampera everywhere, plus a few Prius PHEV and Outlander PHEV for good measure.

Despite this EV density, we saw few Teslas, 2 Model X and 1 Model S, while other Luxury EVs were completely absent. Are the local rich people averse to EVs?

Slovakia - We saw a few Toyota hybrids and 1 Outlander PHEV, otherwise...nothing much going on.

One Opel Ampera that must have migrated from Germany/Netherlands to Hungary...

Czech Republic - See Slovakia. Same story, but without the Outlander. Good radios, though, with Country Music radio and CAS Rock, a brilliant Rock radio.

Poland - We saw a couple of Nissan Leafs, 1 BMW i3, 1 Model S and...that was all folks.

Slovakia June 2018

(Sky High) Records

The PEV market in Slovakia is on fire, with sales in June smashing all previous records, with 143 registrations, up 240% YoY, and more than doubling numbers on the previous record (62 units, set in the previous month), with the PEV share in June reaching a record 1.5%, and pulling the 2018 PEV share up to  0.8%. 

And don't think this is thanks to tax dodging PHEVs, as 66% of all plug-ins sold last month were BEVs...So this is a market that not only is growing fast, but it is doing so in a healthy way, with a BEV prevalence. This is a good example to follow by the neighboring countries...Keep up the good work, Slovakia!

Essential to this brilliant result were the 52 Nissan Leaf registrations in June, not only it was by far the best result ever for a single model in this market, they but also represented 31% of Nissan sales(!) in the country last month. Congrats for the local Nissan importer, for grabbing this opportunity to shine.

Looking elsewhere, the BMW i3 climbed two positions, to Third tied with the Audi Q7 e-Tron, thanks to a personal best of 11 units, while the in remaining positions we see the Smart Fortwo ED climbing one position, to Sixth, thanks to 8 deliveries (New Personal Best), while the VW Golf GTE jumped three spots to #7, thanks to a record 8 registrations.

Finally, we welcome the Hyundai Ioniq Electric, in #10, showing up here thanks to a best ever month, with 6 deliveries (Do you see a trend here?...). 

In the manufacturers ranking, Nissan is leading, with 26% (up 8%), with Audi in Second (12%,down 4%) and the #3 BMW (11%), closing in on the Ingolstadt manufacturer.

Source: motofocus.sk

Slovakia May 2018

Nissan Leaf #1 in Hot Selling Slovakia

The PEV market in Slovakia continues as hot as ever, with sales up 82% YoY, to 250 units until May, with the 2018 PEV share now at a record 0.6%. 

The Nissan Leaf is by far the Best Selling car in the country, with 45 units, while the remaining positions in the podium go for Audi, with the A3 and Q7 e-Tron models tied in Second Place, with 19 units, signaling the first real year of Audi in this niche.

In the manufacturers ranking, Nissan is leading, with 18%, with Audi in Second (16%, highest share in the world) and BMW (11%) in Third.

Source: motofocus.sk

Slovakia August 2017

Nissan Leaf #1 in Hot Selling Slovakia

Thanks to incentives approved in the beggining of this year, the PEV market in Slovakia has seen its sales jump seven(!) fold to 225 units until August (0.3% share), with YTD PEV share at a record 0.4%. 

The Nissan Leaf is still the Best Selling car in the country, but thanks to its extended lineup, BMW is the #1 brand, with 32% share, with Volkswagen (15%) surpassing Nissan (12%) in the immediate positions.

Final mention to the rising star Hyundai Ioniq Electric, climbing to Seventh, thanks to 10 units in the last three months, with the Korean manufacturer promising production constraints to be a thing of the past, we might see it in a podium position by year end.

Pl	Slovakia	Aug.	YTD	%	'16Pl
1 2 2	Nissan Leaf Volkswagen e-Golf e) BMW i3	1	24 22 22	11 10 10	1 N/A 4
4 5	BMW 225xe Active Tourer e) BMW X5 PHEV e)	1 1	20 16	9 7	N/A N/A
6	Kia Soul EV		14	6	3
7 8 8 8	Hyundai Ioniq Electric Volvo XC90 PHEV Volkswagen e-Up! BMW 330e   e) Others	3 1 1 15	13 12 12 12 64	6 5 5 5 28	5 N/A 2 N/A
TOTAL		23	225	100

Source: motofocus.sk

e) Estimate

Slovakia May 2017

Nissan Leaf #1 in Hot Selling Slovakia

Another market is on the EV Sales radar, Slovakia, that thanks to incentives approved in the beggining of this year, has seen sales jump nine(!) fold to 146 units until May, with 0.4% share. 

The Nissan Leaf is the Best Selling car in the country, but thanks to its extensive lineup, BMW is the #1 brand, with 37% share, followed by Nissan (18%) and Volkswagen (16%).

PHEV's have 51% share and are growing faster than BEV's, but until this markets starts to mature, anything can happen.

Pl	Slovakia	May	YTD	%	'16Pl
1 2 2	Nissan Leaf BMW 225xe Active Tourer e) BMW i3	4 3 5	18 14 14	12 10 9	1 N/A 4
4 5	BMW X5 PHEV e) Volkswagen e-Golf e)	3 1	12 11	8 8	N/A N/A
5	Volkswagen e-Up!		11	8	2
7 7	Kia Soul EV Volvo XC90 PHEV Others	5 18	10 10 36	7 7 0	3N/A
TOTAL		39	146	100

Source: motofocus.sk
e) Estimate

Luxembourg & Others 2012

Yes, you have read it right, this about sales in 2012, but i believe the sales data i've stumbled a few days ago is worth noting, as they come from countries out of the usual Green Car Media focus. To me it's the first insight into their plug-in sales and i believe it is also the first time they go public.

Here they go:

Luxembourg

The highest waged country in the EU registered 85 plug-in cars in 2012 with Renault leading the charge.

Pl	Model	2012
1	Renault Kangoo ZE	23
2	Opel Ampera / Chev. Volt	20
3	Citröen C-Zero	20
4	Renault Fluence ZE	9
5 6	Fisker Karma Mia Electric	2 1

Slovenia

The PSA (Peugeot and Citröen) brands did a lot to push EV's in Central and Eastern Europe, here's another proof of that.

Pl	Model	2012
1	Citröen C-Zero	16
2	Opel Ampera	9
3	Nissan Leaf	2

Slovakia

Just 6 units were registered in 2012 here, when in neighboring Czech Rep. 98 units were sold that year. 

Pl	Model	2012
1	Opel Ampera	4
2	Citröen C-Zero	2

Hungary

Again Opel and Citröen testing the waters for plug-ins here.

Pl	Model	2012
1	Opel Ampera	9
2	Citröen C-Zero	5
3	Nissan Leaf	2

Final mention for Turkey, 92 Renault Fluence ZE were sold in 2012 there, a small drop in the general Turkish market, but nevertheless it was enough to make it one of the top markets for the french sedan.