Europe Electric Car Sales In January 鈥?VW E-Golf Starts In The Lead
44% year over year). In fact, plug-in hybrids now represent more than half (53%) of deliveries. And yet, out of the five best selling PEVs, four are fully electric vehicles (BEVs), and the majority of the top 10 belongs to fully electric models. Well, if BEVs are among the best sellers, then why are PHEVs outselling them? First, there aren鈥檛 that many fully electric cars to choose from. They come at a wide array of prices. There鈥檚 also one MPV and two station wagons. If you look at all the plug-in vehicles on the market today, you can see there are a high number of plug-in hybrids being offered, especially by European automakers. The large automakers seem to prefer adding relatively small batteries and electric motors to gasoline/diesel models rather than building new electric cars from the ground up. Second, all seven all-electric nameplates have waiting lists. Some of them are over 6 months long. So, if there weren鈥檛 production constraints, BEVs would easily overcome plug-in hybrids. Looking at PEV share, 2018 started with 2%, and once the much awaited new models arrive (LEAF 2, Kona EV, 鈥?, expect sales to pick up even further.
I think the plug-in vehicle share could end the year at around 4% market share, and even 6% or so in December. If the VW e-Golf dethroning the Renault Zoe was the headline in January, the surprise of the month was the Smart Fortwo ED reaching 5th place. 1 Volkswagen e-Golf 鈥?Remember the time when saying 鈥渆-Golf鈥?was synonymous with 鈥淣orway鈥? Not anymore, despite Norway still being the nameplate largest market (514 deliveries), the German BEV had 506 deliveries in the Netherlands and 450 at home. So, the 1,985 units registered in January are spread out more than a year ago. The model is benefiting from a larger battery and more favorable context, which actually led to demand that Volkswagen wasn鈥檛 expecting and thus long lead times, something the automaker promised to cut significantly during this year with increased production. 2 Renault Zoe 鈥?The 1,871 deliveries of January marked a 27% drop year over year (YoY), making it the nameplate鈥檚 worst performance since April.
With no known production hiccups and the demand as strong as ever, this slowdown could be attributed to the fact that LG Chem does not have enough batteries to provide the French automaker. As for individual country performances, despite the dismal result at home (633 deliveries, its worst result in 14 months), there were decent numbers in Germany (299 deliveries), Norway (334 deliveries), and Spain (104 deliveries). 3 BMW i3 鈥?The German Stormtrooper hatchback saw flat sales in January, with 1,867 deliveries. With the all-electric version now representing 75% of deliveries, one can consider the i3 as part of the BEV team. Looking at individual countries, the i3 had strong results in Norway (614 BEV deliveries), Germany (359 deliveries), and France (172 deliveries). Looking into 2018, expect deliveries to pick up in the coming months 鈥?BMW will be going into full production in its Leipzig plant and presumably delivering as many i3 and i8 as the factory can deliver.
4 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV 鈥?Solid as a rock, the Japanese SUV saw its sales slip slightly (-1% YoY) to 1,165 registrations. Despite this minor setback, the Mitsubishi model continues to profit from its unique mix of space, AWD, range, and affordability (鈧?0,000) to make it popular in markets like the UK, Norway, Sweden, and Iceland (126 registrations in that last one). In the long run, with no direct competitors in sight and a promised update during the year, the Japanese SUV will probably stay among Europe鈥檚 top sellers, even making a run for the 鈥淏est-Selling PHEV鈥?trophy. 5 Smart Fortwo ED 鈥?The tiny two-seater seems destined for success this year, registering 1,143 units in January. If Germany (729 registrations) is the main driving force, other market performances are also impressive, with Italy (131 registrations) and France (98 registrations) being the most important. Despite the limited range coming from the small 17.6 kWh battery and the lack of fast charging, the new Smart Electric has met with enthusiastic demand, catching Daimler off-guard (surprise, surprise). That has led to 9 month lead times for the model, making the OEM quest to be an all-electric brand even more pressing.
I mean, if there is a car that should have been electric from the beginning, it鈥檚 the Fortwo, right? Looking elsewhere, the first month of the year has brought a couple of surprises, with the most important being the 7th place finish of the Hyundai Ioniq Electric, with a record 1,017 registrations. The Korean model is still production constrained after more than a year on the market 鈥?one wonders when Hyundai will deliver enough units to satisfy demand. 16, thanks to 678 registrations, and it could be even higher 鈥?if it wasn鈥檛 suffering from a common disease (not enough batteries). One interesting note compared to the China electric car sales report is that only 10% of electric car sales were from models outside of the top 20, whereas that figure is 25% in Europe. Looking at the manufacturer ranking, last year鈥檚 winner, BMW, started the year in the lead with 17% market share. It was followed by Volkswagen (15%) in second place, with Renault ending in the last place of the podium at 9%. Interestingly, last year鈥檚 podium was exactly the same. Outside the medal places, Volvo (8%) is coming strong, with Kia and Mercedes (both with 6% share) following close behind. Also published on EV Obsession鈥檚 Electric Car Sales page.
