The German plug-in electric vehicle market continued on the right track in August, having registered 8,121 units. Fully electric vehicles (BEVs) were up +104% year over year (YoY), while plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) keep suffering (down 9%). The plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) share was 2.6% in the month, with BEVs alone hitting 1.6%. That kept the 2019 plug-in share at 2.6% (1.7% BEV).
August brought another new monthly winner, after the VW e-Golf topped the charts in July, the Tesla Model 3 in June, the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV in May, and the Renault Zoe in April, it was time for the BMW i3 to pick up a Monthly Best Seller title, its first in 2019. That came with a record number of sales to boot: 992 registrations!
BMW couldn’t have picked a worse time to announce the killing of it’s innovative BEV…
Another BMW model that was shining was the BMW 225xe Active Tourer, with 575 registrations. It had its best result in 11 months, allowing the model a place on the podium. It also overtook the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV as last month’s Best Selling Plug-in Hybrid.
A mention is also due to the #5 Hyundai Kona EV, which had 441 registrations, its best ever month. That could signal (fingers crossed on this one) a higher availability of batteries — ergo, more units to deliver.
In the year-to-date (YTD) table, things became a bit more confusing in the front of the group, with the leader, Renault Zoe, busy with a skin generation change and the Tesla Model 3 in an off peak month, it was time for the BMW i3 to work overtime (in August, of all months…) and recover ground on the two competitors. The German hatchback displaced the Tesla Model 3 in the 3rd spot, while reducing the distance to reach the French model to 758 units, still a sizable disadvantage for the i3, but if the new Zoe takes longer than expected to land and the Tesla sedan fails to repeat its previous four-digit peaks, then maybe, just maybe, the BMW i3 can still win the 2019 title. Admittedly, this is a long shot, but it’s not impossible.
Off the podium, we have the relentless rise and rise of the Audi e-tron, now in #7. Although, it seems that at this point, Audi’s electric SUV has met its table ceiling, as it would need a significant step up in sales to reach #6.
In the full-size category, the race is on between the #11 Mercedes E300e/de twins and the #10 BMW 530e, with the Mercedes reducing the Bimmer’s advantage to just 148 units, so the revised 530e is coming in the right time for BMW to try and keep the E-Series at bay.
In the lower positions of the ranking, a reference is due to the new Kia Soul EV, 196 units delivered, its best result so far, while its stable mate, the Kia Niro PHEV, scored 144 units, its best result in over a year.
Finally, the Tesla Model S scored 98 deliveries, its best off-peak result in 15 months, which means the recent range upgrade (and perhaps Elon tweeting that no interior refresh is coming) is helping the flagship Tesla to recover its mojo.
As for the other Tesla, the Model X, things weren’t as rosy — 60 deliveries meant that that it lost ground to the #20 Jaguar I-PACE, now more than 150 units ahead.
Outside the ranking, we should highlight the Hyundai Ioniq PHEV, which had 99 registrations, staying just one unit below the top 20, with 611 units.
In the brand ranking, BMW (20%) is the clear leader, and Tesla (11%, down 1%) is less than 100 units ahead of #3 Renault (11%, down 1%).
Outside the podium, Mitsubishi (8%, down 1%) lost ground to the medalists, while Volkswagen and Hyundai, both with 7% share, are trying to catch up.
If you like seeing the bar charts shared above with “Others” included, here are those:
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