Netherlands January 2019

Hyundai Kona EV jumps to #2 in hot market

The Dutch market started 2019 on fire, as January had 3,271 plugin registrations, doubling sales YoY, which translates in a PEV Share of 6.9%, and this is before the oficial landing of the Tesla Model 3...But more on that later.

This good market performance was the result of several good individual results, starting with the Best Seller of the Month, the VW e-Golf, that registered 653 units, repeating the good start of 2018, with the BEV now representing one third of all VW Golf deliveries.

But the surprise of the month was the Kona EV (where have heard this one before?), that delivered a record 536 units, or 79% of all Kona deliveries in this market, with a few thousand orders waiting to be fulfilled, the Korean Crossover is presenting itself as the strongest candidate for the Silver Medal this year, behind the Tesla Model 3. But more on this last one in a few moments...

The Nissan Leaf was 3rd, with 396 deliveries, keeping the previous year good pace, while the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV surprised everyone by delivering 322 units, its best result since 2016, winning already precious advantage over the rest of the PHEV competition, in the race for the 2019 edition of the category trophy.

Without the shackles of battery constraints, the Renault Zoe and Hyundai Ioniq Electric continue racking up sales, with the French hatchback hitting a record 237 registrations, while the Kia Niro EV is already in the Top 10, with 155 deliveries.

Outside the Top 10, the Land Rover siblings scored close to 100 deliveries in one month, not only a new record, but also representing 90% of both nameplates total deliveries.  

Last, but definitely not the least, the Tesla Model 3 shows up in #13, with 40 deliveries, no doubt still demonstration units that were distributed across Europe for test drives, with some 3,000 final orders said to be already made in The Netherlands, the Californian midsizer is sure to take the 2019 Best Selling EV title, and probably also the Best Selling midsizer prize.

As an introduction to its opponents, here are the current best selling midsizers: Volvo S/V60 (747 units), BMW 3-Series (424) and Mercedes C-Class (298).

Outside the Top 20, a mention to the BMW i8, with 12 registrations, that managed to beat the Porsche 911 (10 units), losing only to the Mercedes-AMG GT (13) the title of Best Selling Sports Car.

In the manufacturers ranking, Hyundai started the year in the lead, with 21% share, closely followed by Volkswagen (20%), while Nissan (12%) closed the podium, ahead of Mitsubishi (10%).

Source: RAI Vereniging

Plugins & Hybrids

Pl	Model	Sales
1	VW e-Golf	653
2	Hyundai Kona EV	536
3	Kia Niro HEV	452
4	Toyota Yaris Hybrid	416
5	Nissan Leaf	396

Comparing this ranking with January '18, there are significant changes, back then, the best selling plugin (VW e-Golf) was 3rd, with only one other plugin (Hyundai Ioniq Electric) present in the Top 5.

Now, it's the other way around, the best selling hybrid (Kia Niro HEV) is only 3rd, with only one other hybrid (Yaris) among the Top 5.

How the tables have turned...Hear that, Toyota? 

Spain January 2019

Kona EV Shines

Despite the lack of incentives, the Spanish plug-in market is growing, last month it hit 1.113 units, up 52% YoY, with the 2019 PEV Share starting at 1.1%, also thanks to the mainstream market dropping 5%.

Looking at January best sellers, the big news were the 127 registrations of the Hyundai Kona EV, the Crossover best month so far, pulling it to 3rd spot, only behind the 151 units of the #2 Nissan Leaf, and the 165 registrations of the leader Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, that performed its best result ever in Spain.

Interestingly, there is a majority of BEVs on the Top 20, with two Citroen(!) in the ranking, with the e-Berlingo showing up in #13, with 33 deliveries, while the forever-young C-Zero is #15, with 20 units, while another van-with-windows, the Nissan e-Evalia (12 units) is #19.

Jaguar Land Rover also showed up with two representatives, with the much awaited i-Pace joining the ranking in #16, while the Land Rover Range Rover Sport PHEV, besides winning the prize for longest name, started 2019 in #8, with 48 deliveries.

On the manufacturers ranking, the race started pretty balanced, with Hyundai (16%) leading, followed by Mitsubishi and Nissan, both with 15% share, with Mitsu leading by a thread (165 units vs 163).

Sweden January 2019

13% Share! 

We start 2019 with good news coming from Sweden, with the local plug-in market up 53% YoY, to 2.665 registrations, pulling the PEV share to 13%, with the best part being that growth came from BEVs, that went up four-fold, while PHEVs grew just 2% YoY. 

Meanwhile, the mainstream market continues sliding, dropping 11% last month.

And if we look only at tradicional ICE (diesel and gasoline) sales, the fall was even steeper, as both were down 16% YoY, with the current disruption not sparing HEVs (-6%), as another signal of the seismic changes currently happening.

Right now buyers are running away from fossil-fueled vehicles (HEVs included) and going in a stampede-like movement into fully electric ones, but because BEVs are still model/production constrained, it seems people prefer to wait in line for a BEV, than to buy/lease another ICE-based vehicle.

This is starting to become a trend, once a market is regularly at over 10%, the mainstream market starts to suffer and decline, as people move away from regular petrol/diesel vehicles.

Looking at last month Best Sellers, after a couple of years being overshadowed by the now discontinued VW Passat GTE, the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV returned to the leadership for the first time since 2016, with 465 registrations, tripling the number of registrations it had a year ago, while also allowing it to jump into #7 in the mainstream market.

The Kia Niro PHEV, won the Second spot, with 285 units, while the Nissan Leaf closed the podium, with 264 deliveries.

But the real surprise came in Sixth Place, with the Kia Niro EV delivering 175 units, in its first full deliveries month, being followed by two other Korean models, the #7 Hyundai Ioniq Electric, with 101 registrations, and the Kia Optima PHEV (96).

These performances highlight the strong start of the year of both Korean brands, with all seven plugin models from Hyundai-Kia showing in the Top 20, including the sunset-mode Kia Soul EV, that scored 53 deliveries, its best result ever in Sweden...

In the manufacturers ranking, Kia started the year in the lead, with 24% share, while Volvo (18%) was Second, closely followed by Mitsubishi (17%).

Nissan (10%) is a distant 4th, with Renault (9%), not far behind. 

Hybrids and Plugins

Pl	Model	Sales
1	M. Outlander PHEV	465
2	Toyota Yaris	382
3	Toyota C-HR	381
4	Kia Niro PHEV	285
5	Nissan Leaf	264

Besides winning the Best Selling PEV title in January, the Outlander PHEV also managed to outsell regular hybrids, but that's not the only good news for plugins, as the Kia Niro PHEV and Nissan Leaf also got a spot on the Top 5, allowing them to outnumber HEVs here.

Also a telling tale of the changes currently happening, the Kia Niro HEV was the slowest selling (114 registrations) of the Korean Crossover variants (BEV, PHEV, HEV).

Do you see the writing on the wall, Toyota?  

2018 Global Sales by OEM (Updated)

Looking at the 2018 sales by Automotive Group, we have:

Regarding the previous post, both Tesla (12%) and BYD (11%) maintained their lead, but last year winner, the #3 Renault-Nissan Alliance (9%, -1%), lost a bit more ground, with the rising BAIC (8%, +1%) cutting distances to the podium, having surpassed BMW in November, to reach #4. 

Regarding the remaining OEMs, there is one significant change, with Hyundai-Kia surpassing the almighty VW Group and reaching #8, which says a lot about what is happening right now...

Interestingly, half of the Top 10 belongs to Chinese OEMs, and if we add Tesla to the Disruptors team, Legacy OEMs are a minority in the Top 10. Is this a sign of the New World Order in the automotive industry?

Looking at last year standings, and comparing it with 2018, there are noticeable changes, Tesla jumped from #5 to the leadership, Renault-Nissan dropped from #1 to 3rd, Geely dropped two positions, to #6, SAIC was up two spots to #6, while the Volkswagen was down two spots, to #9.

Highlighting the changing times, we have two new Automotive Groups in the Top 10, with Hyundai-Kia jumping to #8, and Chery reaching #10, kicking out General Motors, now #11, and Toyota (down to #15!) out of the Top 10. 

The Toyota case is particularly worrying, not only because it is one of the largest Automotive OEMs, and in this ranking is only #15, but also because in a fast growing market, it was one of the few (the only?) OEMs to lose sales (-10%) regarding 2017...


BEVs Only

Looking only at BEVs, the ranking would be like this:

1. Tesla (245.240);

2. BAIC (165.369);

3. Renault-Nissan (150.374);

4.  BYD (105.420);

5. Chery (64.897).

The disruption is even more visible here, with only Renault-Nissan on the Top 5, and Tesla winning even more easily.

In fact, if we have  increased this to a Top 10, we would only have another Legacy OEM here, Hyundai-Kia, #7, with 58.990 units.

So, BMW and the VW Group are still too PHEV-based to be considered one of the leading Legacy OEMs. Maybe things will look different in 2020?