Italy December 2017

Panamera PHEV: Hot Seller in Italy

BMW 225xe A. Tourer it's the 2017 Best Seller 

The Italian PEV market saw its sales increase 70% in 2017, to 4.820 units, although sharewise, the numbers are still at a rather embarassing low 0.2%. 

While growth is always good, especially in a low share market like this one, it is sad to see that this previously BEV-predominant market now dominated by PHEVs (59% share), which are growing faster (+97% vs +42%) than BEVs. 

Lack of charging infrastructure?

The PHEV rise is visible in the models ranking, with the BMW 225xe Active Tourer winning the 2017 race, a first for a plug-in hybrid, displacing the veteran (And several times winner) Nissan Leaf to Second Place, with another PHEV (Mercedes GLC350e) closing the podium.

Below the podium positions, there are two hot selling models, with the Smart Fortwo ED scoring 57 units (Best result in 40 months) in December (Best seller of the month) and ending the year in #9 (Will 2018 signal the return to its Best Seller status?), while the Porsche Panamera PHEV was the Second Best Selling model last month, by registering a record 33 units, allowing it to climb to #11.

Looking at the manufacturers ranking, BMW won the trophy for the second time in a row, with 26% share, followed by Mercedes (11%), in a distant Second Place, while Tesla and Nissan (Both with 10%) discussed the last place of the podium until the end, with the advantage going for the Californian brand, by a single(!) unit. 

Pl	Italy	Dec.	YTD	%	'16Pl
1	BMW 225xe Active Tourer	25	513	16	2
2 3 4 5	Nissan Leaf Mercedes GLC350e  BMW i3  Renault Zoe	7 12 25 11	448 370 346 318	14 12 11 10	1 25 5 6
6 7 8	Mini Countryman PHEV Tesla Model S Tesla Model X	15 17 15	311 266 216	10 8 7	N/A 4 26
9	Smart Fortwo ED	57	184	6	39 9
10 11 12	BMW 330e Porsche Panamera PHEV Volkswagen Golf GTE	22 33 7	145 142 129	5 4 4	9 31 7
13 14 15 16 17 18 19 19 21 22 23	BMW X5 40e Audi A3 e-Tron Volvo XC90 T8 BMW 530e Citröen C-Zero Volkswagen Passat GTE Toyota Prius PHEV Audi Q7 e-Tron Kia Optima PHEV Volvo V60 Plug-In Volkswagen e-Up!	15 1 5 25 1 3 7 3 12 3	117 115 112 111 87 70 66 65 63 58 55	4 4 4 4 3 2 2 2 2 2 2	13 19 12 N/A 8 14 N/A 24 30 20 18
24	BMW 740e	6	51	2	21
25 26 27	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV Volkswagen e-Golf  Smart Forfour ED	3 12 11	46 37 36	1 1 1	10 37 N/A
28	Citroen E-Mehari	1	35	1	33
29 30	Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia Porsche Cayenne Plug-in Others	3 1 34	33 29 146	1 1 6	23 20
	TOTAL	381	4.820	100

Source: greenstart.it; unrae.it

Cyprus Full Year 2017

Second Place in Cyprus

Leaf wins Cyprus, but Premiums Shine

Cyprus registered 99 PEV's in 2017, up 154% YoY, so it's a market in rapid growth, with the PEV market share ending at 0.7%, a significant improvement over the 0.3% of last year.

The Nissan Leaf was the Best Seller by far, with 30 units, repeating the 2016 title, being the only mainstream brand to bet seriously in this market.

With three of the Top 4 being high end luxury cars, it was not surprising that the recently arrived Porsche Panamera PHEV earned Silver, while the BMW i8(!) was Third...

Is Cyprus addicted to Premium PEVs?

The answer is not so simple, as this is a market with CO2-based taxes, the larger the difference between the regular ICE-version CO2 emissions and its corresponding Plug-in version, the larger the incentive, so it is natural that would-be Porsche buyers feel more compelled to buy a plug-in than, let's say, a prospective Renault Zoe or Nissan Leaf buyer .

Pl	Model	2017
1	Nissan Leaf	30
2 3 4 5 5	Porsche Panamera PHEV BMW i8 Porsche Cayenne PHEV BMW i3 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	17 8 7 6 6
	Others	49
	TOTAL	99

Greece December 2017 (Top 3 Draft)

i3 wins in BMW turf

Greece registered 163 plug-ins in 2017, leading to a small 0.2% PEV share, but with sales almost tripling regarding 2016, one could say this market is getting out of numbness.

The BMW i3's once again took the Best Seller title, its fifth in a row, with the German carmaker leading the market ever since it arrived, back in 2013, with the 2017 title being won with 71%(!) share.

Pl	Model	2017
1	BMW i3	33
2	BMW 225xe Act. Tourer	25
3	BMW 330e Others	21 84
	TOTAL	163

Romania December 2017

BMW i3 wins #1

The PEV market in Romania had a great year in 2017, with 374 registrations, up 131% regarding 2016. True, the starting base is small, but growth is always good, right?

With the PEV Share ending 2017 at a record 0.4%, plug-ins in Romania are starting to move the needle, will we see it move more rapidly next year? Let's say...1%?

If last year BMW and Mercedes were the big players, with both counting 69% of 2016 sales, things were more even this year, but the Best Seller award still went to the BMW i3, with the German Hot Hatch repeating the 2016 title, with 71 units, a new record. 

The Renault Zoe and VW e-Golf made up for the rest of the podium, with both models making 2017 their real landing year in Romania. 

Looking elsewhere, BEVs became the majority in the Top 10, besides the aforementioned podium models, the discontinued #5 Mercedes B250e, the #7 Kia Soul EV and the #10 Mitsubishi i-MIEV(!?!) joined the 2017 Top 10, a trend confimed by the fact that BEVs grew 236% (vs +53% for PHEVs) regarding 2016 and represent 62% of all PEV sales, a stark contrast to 2016, when all-electrics only had 43% share.

In the manufacturers ranking, BMW (31%) won its second makers trophy, adding to the 2016 title, with Mercedes winning Silver, but the three-pointed-star has been losing significant ground, losing 2% share, to 16%, with Volkswagen (14%) earning the Third Place in the ranking.

Pl	Romania	Dec.	2017	%	Pl '16
1	BMW i3	10	71	19	1
2 3	Renault Zoe Volkswagen e-Golf e)	8 4	49 36	13 10	8 N/A
4 5	Mercedes GLC350e Mercedes B250e	3	27 20	7 5	8 14
6	BMW X5 40e	1	17	5	2
7	Kia Soul EV	3	15	4	N/A
8 9 10 11 11 11 14 14 14 17	BMW 225xe Active T. Audi Q7 e-Tron Mitsubishi I-Miev Mercedes GLE500e Volkswagen e-Up! Smart Forfour ED Porsche Panamera PHEV Volvo XC90 T8 Mini Countryman PHEV Hyundai Ioniq Electric Others	2 1 2 1 7	12 10 9 8 8 8 7 7 7 6 57	4 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 14	17 N/A N/A 3 N/A N/A 14 6 N/A N/A
	TOTAL	42	374	100

Source: http://www.drpciv..ro/

Portugal December 2017

Renault Zoe wins #1 and BMW shines in fast growing market

PEV Sales continue on the fast lane in Portugal, with sales hitting a new record (The third in a row) in December, with 561 registrations (Up 153%YoY), pulling the 2017 registrations to a final tally of 4.237 units, up 126% regarding 2016, with the PEV share ending at a record 1.9% (3.2% in December).

Looking at the fuels mix, in the full year data it is possible to see some important changes, with Diesel losing 4% share, to 61%, an important drop in a diesel-addicted market, but more relevant for the future are the December results: 

- Diesel sales dropped 14%, with their share of the market stumbling from 67% a year ago, to 58%, a sharp 9% drop;

- Regular Petrol/Gasoline car sales grew 22%, with the sales share growing 6%, to 34%;

- Electrified models grew significantly, not only HEVs (+36%), but especially BEVs (+144%) and PHEVs (+154%), with this category earning 2% share, to 6% of the mainstream market;

- Even LPG grew significantly (+65%) in December, now representing close to 2% of the sales, which means that Diesel is losing sales to every other fuel, accentuating its demise.

In the models PEV ranking, after years of underwelming performances, the Renault Zoe has finally spread its wings, leading the market in 2017 with a record 751 registrations, winning its first Best Seller trophy, but BMW's company-car friendly lineup, (Companies have VAT-exemption when buying plug-ins up to a certain price) have been shining lately, as more and more fleet managers realize the advantages of buying plug-ins PHEVs, proof of that are the Second Place of the BMW 330e and Third Place of the 530e, with this last model being also the Rookie of the Year.

Last year winner, the Nissan Leaf, was pushed out of the podium in the last month of the year, but with the revised 40kWh version landing in a few months, aided by the usual aggressive pricing of the local Nissan importer, the Japanese hatchback is set to regain the #1 spot in 2018.

Looking elsewhere, the Mercedes GLC350e SUV replicated the success earned in other markets, by reaching #7 last year, ending as the best selling three-pointed-star model, cannibalizing sales of its C350e relative, which dropped from Second to Eighth.

Further down the ranking, the Mercedes E350e and Mini Countryman PHEV had successful landings in 2017, while the new Smart brand BEVs were off to a great start, jumping into the Top 20, with the #14 Fortwo ED scoring a record 35 units last month, while the #20 Forfour ED also scored a best ever 16 registrations. A promising start, let's hope the Daimler Mothership can make enough units to satisfy demand.

The official landing of Tesla is starting to bear fruits, with deliveries up four fold, to 153 units and 4% share, but because their models pricing stand outside the VAT incentives, the real attack on Mercedes and BMW sales will only happen in 2019, when the Model 3 arrives...

Speaking of manufacturers, BMW revalidated the 2016 title in '17, with 30% share, followed by Renault (18%) and Mercedes (13%, down 1%).

As a side note, Volkswagen in Portugal has only 6% share, half of what it has in Europe, while its Premium daughter, Audi has...0% share.

Pl	Portugal	Dec.	2017	%	Pl '16
1 2	Renault Zoe BMW 330e	94 39	751 352	18 8	6 7
3	BMW 530e	58	327	8	N/A
4	Nissan Leaf	23	318	7	1
5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 15 17 18 19 20 21 21 22 22 22 26 26 28	BMW i3 Mitsu. Outlander PHEV Mercedes GLC350e Mercedes C350e BMW 225xe Active Tourer Volkswagen Passat GTE Volvo V60 Plug-In Mercedes E350e Mini Countryman PHEV Smart Fortwo ED Toyota Prius PHEV Tesla Model S   e) Volkswagen Golf GTE Tesla Model X   e) Kia Soul EV Smart Forfour ED Volkswagen e-Golf BMW X5 40e Hyundai Ioniq Electric BMW 740e Volvo XC90 PHEV Volkswagen e-Up! Kia Niro PHEV Porsche Panamera PHEV	38 28 13 9 19 19 12 33 20 35 10 7 15 7 2 16 1 3 1 5 5 9 4	281 240 219 215 197 147 118 114 98 90 81 81 76 72 60 47 43 43 24 24 24 20 20 19	7 6 5 5 5 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0	4 3 22 2 13 10 5 N/A N/A 31 27 17 8 26 11 N/A 18 10 N/A 23 28 23 N/A N/A
29 30	Audi A3 e-Tron Audi Q7 e-Tron Others	2 34	18 16 102	0 0 2	28 31
	TOTAL	561	4.237	100

Source: ACAP

Plug-ins and Regular Hybrids

Pl	Model	Dec. Sales
1	Toyota Auris Hybrid	162
2	Toyota Yaris Hybrid	132
3	Toyota C-HR Hybrid	119
4	Renault Zoe	94
5	BMW 530e	58

As plug-ins reach new heights, it starts to be interesting to compare them with regular hybrids, here a class still owned by Toyota, as the local Hyundai/Kia importers are still unaware of this niche potential, that has also grown significantly, as people leave their diesel-addiction for electrified models.

Nevertheless, the Third Place seems attainable by plug-ins, so in the near future the Toyota domination is likely to be dented, not only by the Renault Zoe, but especially by the arrival of the new Nissan Leaf, that could sell regularly above the 100 units/month threshhold.

The Fifth Place of the BMW 530e is a surprise, but it is also another sign that companies are leaving their diesel addiction and going electric.

Russia Full Year 2017

Thanks to our Russian readers, we now have a good picture on the local EV scene, which is more interesting than previously thought.

The Russian plug-in market is showing a significant development, mostly thanks to second hand imports, if the Russian new EV market only had 95 registrations is 2017 (+28% regarding 2016), the second hand imports grew from 313 units in 2016 to... 1.047(!) last year.

NEW REGISTRATIONS

1. Tesla Model X (48 units)

2. Nissan Leaf (29)

3. Tesla Model S (14)

    Others (4)

In the small new BEV market, Tesla is the big winner, with 62 units, 40 of them in Moscow and 17 in St. Petersburg (These numbers would already justify a couple of stores, right? Are you reading, Tesla?), with Russian buyers showing a singular preference for the Model X.

In second place we had the Nissan Leaf, with 29 units, let's hope the local importer bets all the chips on the new 40 kWh version, so that the Japanese hatchback reaches the three digits, i mean, demand is there, as the second hand imports show...

USED IMPORTS

1. Nissan Leaf (932 units)

2. Mitsubishi i-Miev (50)

3. Tesla Model S (44)

    Others (21)

Akin to Ukraine, the Second Hand market for the Nissan Leaf is huge, according to sources, these units come from Asia, reason why most (524) of the Leaf units stay in the Far Eastern part of Russia.

The quirky thing about this market is the Mitsubishi i-Miev being a popular choice in the used market, with 50 units being imported last year, even outnumbering the Model S from Tesla.

Source: https://www.autonews.ru/news/5a676aae9a79474fdd77d9b1?from=newsfeed

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.