Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Belgium January 2017

Image result for bmw x5 40e vs volvo xc90 t8 belgium


SUV-Fest Edition in Record Month

January was record month in Belgium, with 1.047 passenger cars wearing a plug, with the hot sales trend continuing in 2017, with sales up 50% YoY, pulling the EV Share once again to record heights, at 2.08%.

But growth wasn't balanced between BEVs and PHEVs, while the firsts have grown at a 13% rate, the seconds grew at a 59%, to 905 units, or a mammoth 84% of the market. Reminding of someone?...

At this rhythm, i believe it will be a question of time until someone in the Belgian government wakes up for this and cuts PHEV incentives for companies, just like the northern neighbor did recently.

SUV's continue to be the Trend du Jour, with 5 out of the top 6 places in January belonging to such vehicles: The Volvo XC90 PHEV (199 units, best result in 11 months) won another Monthly Best-Seller trophy, followed by the arch rival BMW X5 PHEV (138 units) and the surprising Mercedes GLC350e (108 units, personal best), while in #4 we have the fleet-friendly BMW 330e, with 71 units. In #5 we have the Porsche Cayenne Plug-in (67 units), followed by the Audi Q7 e-Tron (60), another model that seems destined for success in this market.

Next to all these shiny, trendy SUV's, the BMW sedan almost looks pedestrian...

Looking elsewhere, the Toyota Prius PHEV registered its best result EVER, with 24 units, which could mean that the first demonstration units of the Second Generation have arrived and the local importer is betting heavily in it. On the other hand, the Mercedes C350e (11 units) had its worst result in over a year, no doubt suffering from the arrival of its SUV sibling, the GLC. Another proof that Belgians love SUVs...

In the manufacturers ranking, last year leader BMW started in the leadership, with 34%, while Volvo (20%) ended in Second and Mercedes (16%) in Third.


PlBelgiumJan.YTD%'16Pl
1Volvo XC90 T8 199199191
2BMW X5 40e 138138132
3
4
Mercedes GLC350e
BMW 330e
108
71
108
71
10
7
12
5
5Porsche Cayenne Plug-In676763
6Audi Q7 e-Tron6060610
7BMW i3 *535358
8BMW 225xe Active Tourer494956
9
Tesla Model S
404044
10BMW 740e3737317
11Tesla Model X3535316
12
13
13
15
16
17
18
19
19
Nissan Leaf
Mercedes GLE500e
Toyota Prius PHEV
Volkswagen Passat GTE
Renault Zoe
Mercedes S500e
Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV
Mercedes E350e
BMW i8
27
24
24
21
16
15
14
12
12
27
24
24
21
16
15
14
12
12
3
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
7
9
24
13
14
25
15
N/A
20
21
22
23
Mercedes C350e
Audi A3 e-Tron
Volvo V60 Plug-In
11
10
8
11
10
8
1
1
1
11
19
18
24
25
26
27
28
28
28
28
28
Mercedes B250e
Hyundai Ioniq Electric
Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia
Porsche Panamera Plug-In
Citröen e-Mehari 
Volkswagen e-Golf
Kia Soul EV
Peugeot iOn
Volksvagen Golf GTE
7
5
4
2
1
1
1
1
1
7
5
4
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
23
35
21
27
34
29
30
31
22

TOTAL1.0471.047100

Source: FEBIAC

* - 31 Bev + 22 Rex




2 comments:

  1. What do you think about this top six plug-in vehicles? For sure SUVs are big, heavy and fundamentally inefficient vehicles. So what are we looking at? Is it great that this particular category of ccars come with a plug for clean city driving? Is the electric range long enough that you care to plug in? Is the electric range so short that you couldn't care to plug in, but the hybrid part is great to have for lower on-the-paper CO2 emission and tax benefits?

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    Replies
    1. Good questions, if they are indeed plugged-in, then it is no doubt a great way to improve emissions, but if people users don't bother to plug in and just use them as a regular hybrid, then it's just a question tax incentives.

      My personal experience, from the people i know, says that private people that bought plug-in hybrids with their own money use them in electric mode as much as they can, while company cars that are handed over to employees are at best charged at home, while others have even never saw a plug...

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