Norway January 2016

BMW i3 and Renault Zoe Shine Edition

The general performance of the Norwegian EV market continues to amaze, there were 2.889 EV's sold, up 29% YoY, with the EV Share shooting to 26%, an interesting fact is that PHEV's continue to win share, now at 27% vs 25% in 2015 and only 10% in '14. Maybe the fact that many charging points becoming overcrowded might have something to do with this...
  

Looking at the models ranking, the e-Golf stayed in the lead for the tenth consecutive month, with the BMW i3 in Second (294 units) and Leaf ending in Third, a rather disappointing month, selling 284 units, down 25 on the 309 registered in January '15.

The Renault Zoe sold a surprising 197 units, up 150% YoY, which confirms that the french hatch has reached its full sales potential and is ready to go head-to-head with its B-Segment nemesis, the i3.

Final mention for the good reception of the BMW X5 40e (119 sales) and Volvo XC90 T8 (104), endangering the long rule of the Outlander PHEV (121) in SUV-land.

Looking at EV's in the general ranking, besides the usual lead of the e-Golf, the BMW i3 (#5) and Renault Zoe (#15) deserve a mention, with only the Toyota Yaris (#3, with 317 units) outselling them in the subcompact car class.

If we add the Leaf (#6 overall, #3 in C-Segment, behind the Toyota Auris) and the A3 e-Tron (#16 overall #4 in the C-Segment), to the three above mentioned, we have five plug-ins in the Norwegian Top 20!

Looking at the manufacturers ranking, Volkswagen (31%) continues in the lead, followed at a distance by BMW (14%) and Nissan (12%).

Pl	Norway	Jan.	YTD	%	'15Pl
1	Volkswagen e-Golf	629	629	22	1
2	BMW i3	294	294	10	5
3	Nissan Leaf	284	284	10	3
4	Renault Zoe	197	197	9	8
5	Audi A3 e-Tron	191	191	6	7
6	Volkswagen e-Up!	141	141	6	9
7	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	121	121	5	4
8	BMW X5 40e PHEV	119	119	4	19
9	Volvo V60 Plug-In	115	115	4	12
10 11	Tesla Model S Volvo XC90 T8 PHEV	105 104	105 104	4 3	2 N/A
12	Mercedes C350e	94	94	3	22
13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 25 27 27 29 29 31	Mercedes B250e Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia Volkswagen Golf GTE Kia Soul EV e) Peugeot iOn Citröen C-Zero Renault Kangoo ZE Porsche Cayenne Plug-In Mercedes GLE500e Volkswagen Passat GTE Peugeot Partner EV BMW i8 Mitsubishi I-Miev Smart Fortwo ED Ford Focus Electric Porsche Panamera Plug-In Mercedes S500e Toyota Prius Plug-In Citröen Berlingo EV	92 77 66 50 45 33 31 27 24 18 7 6 4 4 3 3 2 2 1	92 77 66 50 45 33 31 27 24 18 7 6 4 4 3 3 2 2 1	3 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	10 14 6 11 13 16 17 24 27 20 18 25 15 21 26 N/A 30 28 23
	TOTAL	2.889	2.889	100

e) Estimate

Source: ofvas.no, elbil.no

France January 2016 (Updated)

Good Times Edition 

The French EV market continues on a high note, with 2.078 units sold, doubling sales regarding the same month last year, with the EV Share starting at a record 1.50% share.

Looking at the monthly models ranking, it's business as usual in the leadership, with the Renault Zoe on top, with sales 159% YoY, followed by the Nissan Leaf in Second, while in Third Place we have a surprise, with the Peugeot iOn, with 161 units, its best result in over three years(!), to see the last time the iOn was so high in the ranking, we have to go back to 2011, when the Best Selling model was the Renault Kangoo ZE, followed by the Citroen C-Zero, different times indeed... 

The global performance of the I-Miev triplets deserve a mention, as they seem to have been benefiting the most from the Superbonus scheme (Thanks to it, they cost only 12.000€...), let's compare their current performance to what they had a year ago:

- Peugeot iOn, #3 now, 161 units (#12 in Jan. 2015, with 14 units);  

- Citröen C-Zero, #10, 62 units (#13, 10);

- Mitsubishi I-Miev, #29, 4 units (0 units).

In the Luxury SUV niche, both the BMW X5 PHEV and the Volvo XC90 PHEV trailed the Porsche Cayenne Plug-In, the trophy bearer, with the german SUV ending the month in #6, while being also the best selling PHEV in France. These brilliant performances still need to be confirmed in future months, but it wouldn't be surprising if these two SUV's became frequent appearances on the Top 5.

In the manufacturers ranking, Renault is stable in the lead (43% Share), followed by Nissan (10%) and Peugeot (10%).

Pl	France	Jan.	YTD	%	'15Pl
1	Renault Zoe	769	769	36	1
2	Nissan Leaf	173	173	8	3
3	Peugeot iOn	161	161	8	9
4	Renault Kangoo ZE	105	105	5	2
5	Bolloré Blue Car	91	91	4	5
6 7 8 9	BMW X5 40e Volvo XC90 T8 Audi A3 e-Tron Volkswagen Golf GTE	79 74 65 63	79 74 65 63	4 4 3 3	20 N/A 5 4
10	Citröen C-Zero	62	62	3	15
11	Porsche Cayenne Plug-In	52	52	3	12
12 13 14	Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV Kia Soul EV	42 41 39	42 41 39	2 2 2	16 7 13
15	Tesla Model S	37	37	2	10
16 17 18 19 19 19 22 23	BMW i3 Peugeot Partner EV Goupil Renault Twizy Volvo V60 Plug-In Volkswagen Passat GTE BMW i8 BMW 225xe Active Tourer	36 33 27 16 16 16 13 11	36 33 27 16 16 16 13 11	2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1	8 21 14 11 26 19 25 N/A
24 24 26	Mercedes C350e Citröen Berlingo EV e) Mercedes C350e	10 10 8	10 10 8	0 0 0	27 23 27
27 27 29 29 29 29 29 34 35	Volkwagen e-Golf e) Volkswagen e-Up! e) Mercedes B250e Mercedes GLE500e Smart Fortwo ED Mitsubishi I-Miev Toyota Prius Plug-In Mercedes S500e BMW 330e	7 7 4 4 4 4 4 2 1	7 7 4 4 4 4 4 2 1	0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	22 18 24 31 17 30 28 32 N/A
	TOTAL	2.078	2.078	100

e) Estimate

Source: Avere France

Ireland January 2016

Not glowing any more?

"Slowing Down?" Edition

This EV market started the year with the wrong foot, having registered 95 units in January, down 33% YoY.

The Irish Auto market is highly seasonal, with January sales representing a peak, followed by several months of low numbers and the EV Market niche follows the trend, so a three-digit number was expected, but this slowdown might have a simple explanation, the Nissan Leaf was always the driving force of this market, usually representing more than two thirds of the sales, but last month it only registered 39 units, its worst January since 2013, which might indicate that the japanese car is starting to look old news in the Irish consumers eyes, whereas the rest of the market has actually grown YoY, with the rest of the competition registering 56 new EV's, 20 more than in January '14.

Looking at the models ranking, the big news is the Volvo XC90 PHEV landing with a bang, shooting straight to #2, with 19 units, another impressive performance for the Swedish Knarr SUV, which has been filling headlines as of lately.

Ireland	Jan '16	%
Nissan Leaf	39	41
Volvo XC90 T8 PHEV	19	20
Mit. Outlander PHEV	9	9
Renault Zoe	6	6
BMW i8 Volkswagen Golf GTE	4 4	4 4
BMW i3 Porsche Cayenne PHEV Tesla Model S BMW X5 40e PHEV Audi A3 e-Tron Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia Volvo V60 Plug-In	3 3 3 2 1 1 1	3 3 3 2 1 1 1
TOTAL	95	100

Source: beepbeep.ie

Switzerland January 2016

Tesla is eating  ICE's cake for breakfast in Switzerland 

New Year, Old Habits Edition

The Swiss EV market started the year with 454 units last month, up 63% YoY, a good sign for the rest of the year.

Looking at the models ranking, there weren't many changes regarding 2015, the Tesla Model S continues to impress, it is Numero Uno in the EV ranking, with 138 units, outselling their ICE competitors, Audi A6 (117 unis) and BMW 5-Series (107), only losing to the Merc E-Class (151).

The BMW i3 had only 17 registrations, its worst performance in 11 months, being outsold by the Renault Zoe (29 units), a mere blip or something to continue?

In the manufacturers ranking, Tesla continues to lead, with 30% share, followed by the #2 Volkswagen (20%) and #3 Audi (12%).

Pl	Switzerland	Jan.	YTD	%	'15Pl
1 2	Tesla Model S Volkswagen Golf GTE e)	138 75	138 75	30 17	1 3
3 4	Audi A3 e-Tron  e) Renault Zoe	55 29	55 29	12 6	4 5
5	Mitsu. Outlander PHEV e)	25	25	6	6
6	BMW i3	17	17	4	2
7	Volvo V60 Plug-In e)	15	15	3	7
7 7	Mercedes B-Class ED e) Kia Soul EV e)	15 15	15 15	3 3	8 9
7 11	Porsche Cayenne Plug-In e) Nissan Leaf	15 12	15 12	3 3	10 11
12	Volkswagen e-Golf e)	10	10	2	12
12	Mercedes C350e  e)	10	10	2	21
14	BMW i8	5	5	1	14
14	Peugeot iOn	5	5	1	25
14	Renault Kangoo ZE e)	5	5	1	16
14 18 18 18	Volkswagen e-Up! e) Mitsubishi I-Miev Citröen C-Zero Porsche 918	5 1 1 1	5 1 1 1	1 0 0 0	18 20 22 24
	TOTAL	454	454	100

Source: auto-suisse.ch

Germany January 2016

Will this year be "The Empire Strikes Back" Year?

Golf GTE back to #1 Edition

In a market up 11% YoY, there the models ranking had a complete reshuffle, with the VW Golf GTE starting the year in First Place (As it did last year), with 171 units, followed by the BMW i3 and Renault Zoe, while at the bottom of the table, the Merc GLE500e (finally) started to step up speed, having sold  a record 29 units, but it is still below the class leaders Audi Q7 e-Tron (Another Cruise Ship gaining momentum) and Volvo XC90 PHEV, both with 43 units.

After the Kia Soul EV stealing the show in 2015, this year it looks that the Korean Cute-Ute will have a hard time to win it again, having started the year in #15, with only 37 units, its worst performance in a year.

Looking at the manufacturers ranking, Volkswagen continues glued to the Top Spot, with 21% share, followed closely by BMW (18%) and in Third we have Mercedes, with 11% share, making this a 100% domestic podium, will this be they year that local automakers will take over the top positions completely?

Pl	Germany	Jan.	YTD	%	'15 Pl
1	Volkswagen Golf GTE	171	171	12	4
2	BMW i3 *	149	149	10	2
3	Renault Zoe	134	134	9	6
4	Misubishi Outlander PHEV	102	102	7	3
5	Mercedes C350e e)	99	99	7	13
6	Audi A3 e-Tron	78	78	5	5
7	Nissan Leaf	76	76	5	10
8	Volkswagen Passat GTE	63	63	4	9
9	BMW 225xe Active Tourer	58	58	4	20
10 11 11 13 14 15 15 17 17 19 19 21 22 23 24 25 25 27 27 29 20	Volkswagen e-Golf Volvo XC90 T8 PHEV Audi Q7 e-Tron Volvo V60 Plug-In Tesla Model S BMW X5 40e PHEV Kia Soul EV Porsche Cayenne Plug-In Mercedes GLE500e Mercedes B250e Smart Fortwo ED BMW i8 Mercedes S500e   e) Porsche Panamera Plug-In Ford C-Max Energi Citröen C-Zero Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia Mitsubishi I-Miev Peugeot iOn Toyota Prius Plug-In Opel Ampera	44 43 43 40 38 37 37 34 29 20 20 16 15 13 10 8 8 5 5 4 4	44 43 43 40 38 37 37 34 29 20 20 16 15 13 10 8 8 5 5 4 4	3 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0	8 28 24 18 7 22 1 17 29 14 11 16 19 23 N/A 36 25 27 36 26 31
	TOTAL	1.432	1.432	100

* - 51 Bev + 98 Rex

Source: kba.de

Netherlands January 2016

Hangover Edition

After the historic month of December, the hangover was to be expected this January, and it did so happened, with 565 units, sales dived 78% regarding the same month last year, but looking at a comparable month, January 2014, the following month to the also historic December '13, sales actually doubled, so it's not all bad news.

Because of what has been said earlier, we shouldn't look too much into the current ranking, as it is an atypical month, but we still should mention a few facts:

- Last year leader, Mitsu Outlander PHEV, was only #7, with 30 units;

- The VW Passat GTE reached the ranking leadership for the first time, which might already be an indication for the remaining year;

- Two BEV's rounded up the podium, with the Model S in Second (Best selling version: 85D, with 31 units) and the Nissan Leaf in Third, will this be an early sign of BEV's new role in this market? 

Pl	Netherlands	Jan.	YTD	%	'15Pl
1 2	Volkswagen Passat GTE Tesla Model S	105 84	105 84	19 15	6 8
3	Nissan Leaf	83	83	15	13
4	Volvo V60 Plug-In	53	53	9	3
5 6	Volkswagen Golf GTE Volvo XC90 T8 PHEV	46 38	46 38	8 7	2 7
7	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	30	30	5	1
8 9 10	Renault Zoe Mercedes B250e Porsche Cayenne Plug-In	17 16 16	17 16 16	3 3 3	14 19 10
11	Audi A3 e-Tron	13	13	2	4
12	BMW i3	11	11	2	12
13	BMW X5 40e PHEV	10	10	2	11
13	Volkswagen e-Golf	7	7	1	28
15 16 17 18 19 20 20 20 20 20 20	Volkswagen e-Up! Ford C-Max Energi Kia Soul EV BMW i8 Mercedes GLE500e BMW 225xe Active Tourer Mercedes S500e Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia Porsche Panamera Plug-In Smart Fortwo ED Toyota Prius Plug-In	6 6 5 3 3 1 1 1 1 1 1	6 6 5 3 3 1 1 1 1 1 1	1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0	28 28 24 20 27 17 18 15 21 15 22
	TOTAL	565	565	100

Source: RAI.nl

Canada January 2016

Volt Back At #1 Edition

EV Sales started the year on positive note, with 314 new plug-ins zooming around Canadian streets, which represents a 16% increase regarding last year.

The Status Quo of a couple years ago made a comeback last month, with the Volt in #1, followed by the Leaf and Model S, will these positions be a thing to repeat in 2016? Let's wait and see..

Below the podium, the Audi A3 e-Tron had a nice introduction in the North American markets, as Audi seems to believe on the sales potential of its PHEV product, so the BMW i3 might have a strong competitor here for the race in the #4 position.

Pl	Canada	Jan.	YTD	%
1	Chevrolet Volt	94	94	30
2	Nissan Leaf	72	72	23
3	Tesla Model S e)	41	41	13
4	BMW i3  e)	29	29	9
5 5	Audi A3 e-Tron P. Cayenne Plug-In e)	20 20	20 20	6 6
7	Kia Soul EV e)	15	15	5
8	Mitsubishi I-Miev	7	7	2
9	BMW i8 e)	5	5	2
10 10 12	Ford Fusion Energi e) Ford C-Max Energi e) Cadillac ELR	5 5 1	5 5 1	2 2 0
	TOTAL	314	314	100

e) Estimate

Source: Greencarreports; Good Car Bad Car

Tesla vs The Others (Canada Edition)

As Elon Musk pointed out, the real competition of Tesla aren't other EV's, but the ICE best selling models, so let's look how the Model S stands in Canada (1): 

Pl	Model	Nov.
1	Mercedes CLS / E-Class	231
2	Cadillac CTS	78
3	Audi A6	44
4	BMW 5-Series	42
5	Tesla Model S e)	41

 Looking at the January numbers, Tesla came close to the Third Spot, while the Cadillac CTS was a surprise Second and the Mercedes CLS / E-Class duo continue far ahead of the competition. 

(1) - Unlike in markets across the pond, the full-size car market in Canada is much more diversified, with Chevy Impalas, Malibus, Chrysler 300, Dodge Chargers, etc, all theoretical adversaries to the Model S, but Tesla's direct competition isn't there, so the Model S is only compared with cars with similar price and concept.