Plugin Vehicles = 23% of New Car Sales in Netherlands in January

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Lynk & Co 01 PHEV (who?) wins January in reshuffled market

After the BEV sales rush in the last days of 2021, one would imagine that January would bring a big hangover for the local plugin market. But turns out, it hasn’t, because it grew 62% year over year (YoY)!

But the story is more nuanced than that. In the context of a falling overall market (-11% YoY), BEVs surged in January (+181% YoY, to 3,076 registrations, or 10% market share). They had their best January ever. Meanwhile, PHEVs were up to 4,052 registrations, or 13% market share.

January is usually the best month for PHEVs, but despite this, BEVs gained share within plugin sales compared to the same period last year. They had 43% of plugin sales last month, against 29% in January 2021. So, expect pure electrics to surpass PHEVs soon (March?), and expect them to win ground throughout the remainder of the year.

The overall plugin share started the year at 23% (10% BEV), a significant increase over January 2021 (13%) and not that far from the final 2021 share — 30% in the whole year (20% BEV). Furthermore, 24 months ago, the share was much lower — it was 7.2% in January 2020.

With shares growing fast, will we see the Dutch plugin market cross the 40% or 50% thresholds by the end of the year? Regardless of what it reaches, the important thing is that the market continues to be electrified. Fast.

In the strongest PHEV month of the year, the top 20 had a big reshuffle, with the headline of a PHEV starting the year in the lead. The Chinese Lynk & Co 01 PHEV compact crossover beat the competition and won the January trophy, followed by two of its Swedish relatives. Its platform cousin Volvo XC40 PHEV won silver, while the refreshed Volvo XC60 PHEV midsize SUV took bronze with a record performance — 247 registrations. The latter proves once again the formula “>battery = >sales.” That meant it was a 100% Geely-Volvo podium.

The best selling BEV was the Mini Cooper EV, in 4th with 230 registrations. Last year’s best seller, the Skoda Enyaq, was 8th. The 2021 runner-up, the Kia Niro EV, was 6th last month. The 2021 bronze medalist, the VW ID.4, had a slow start to the year, not even getting enough registrations to break into the top 20….

… In fact, if we exclude the Czech EV from consideration, the best selling Volkswagen Group model was the #15 Porsche Cayenne PHEV(!) with 142 registrations. That was the nameplate’s best score in 7 years. Just below it, in #16, we have another Porsche, the Taycan, which scored a record 132 registrations. That says a lot about the slow start of the Volkswagen Group’s star models, but also about the peak form that Porsche is experiencing right now. Even the third-best-selling plugin model from the German make had a strong month. The Panamera PHEV had 43 deliveries, its strongest month in three years. Last month, the sports brand had 68% of its sales coming from its plugin models, contributing to a 36% growth rate YoY in a falling market. So, one can say that Porsche is surfing the EV wave like a pro.

Elsewhere, a reference goes out to the compact Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross PHEV, scoring its first top 20 presence thanks to a record 162 registrations. That’s a reminder that Mitsubishi is still alive. Meanwhile, the #11 Peugeot 3008 PHEV also had a personal best, with 157 registrations, allowing Peugeot to get all three of its star players (e-208, e-2008, and 3008 PHEV) into the top 20. That’s something only Volvo managed to repeat (#2 XC40 PHEV, #3 XC60 PHEV, and #13 XC90 PHEV).

Outside the top 20, a mention goes out to two other Stellantis EVs, with the Citroen C4 EV compact getting 104 deliveries while the cute little Fiat 500e got 102 registrations. That highlights the long and strong lineup from Stellantis. Finally, a note is due for the Audi Q4 e-tron, which missed a top 20 presence by just 9 units, having registered 108 units.

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In the manufacturer ranking, this time Volvo started the year in the lead (12.3% share). It was followed by BMW (10.3%) and a distant Peugeot (7.2%) on the podium. Slightly behind Peugeot were Audi (6.6%) and Kia (6.5%), and then Mercedes (6.0%) a bit further behind.

As for OEMs, last year’s winner, Volkswagen Group (18%), started the year in the lead, but it has Geely–Volvo (16.7%) much closer than at the end of 2021 (Volkswagen Group was #1 with 24% share, while Geely–Volvo was #2 with 15%).

Stellantis (15.2%) started the year in 3rd, followed by BMW Group (14.8%) and Hyundai–Kia (11.6%).


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José Pontes

Always interested in the auto industry, particularly in electric cars, Jose has been overviewed the sales evolution of plug-ins on the EV Sales blog, allowing him to gain an expert view on where EVs are right now and where they are headed in the future. The EV Sales blog has become a go-to source for people interested in electric car sales around the world. Extending that work and expertise, Jose is also market analyst on EV-Volumes and works with the European Alternative Fuels Observatory on EV sales matters.

José Pontes has 469 posts and counting. See all posts by José Pontes