40% Of New Cars Sold In Netherlands Now Plugin Cars!

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After a good first quarter, April increased plugin registrations by 53% YoY, to 11,919 units, with the Dutch plugin vehicle (PEV) market reaching 40% last month. That’s mostly thanks to pure electrics (28% of new vehicle sales), which jumped 73% year over year (YoY). The overall market is also rising, to 29,669 units, although at a slower rate (+35% YoY). Bear in mind that despite the growth of overall sales, they are still down 11% compared to April 2019, the last normal April.

In April, the Lynk & Co 01 PHEV and its Swedish cousin Volvo XC40 tied in #1, both with 699 registrations, allowing them to be #4 in the overall ranking.

Both were followed by the #3 Peugeot 208 EV, with 570 registrations. The French EV contributed 63% of the 912 units of the Peugeot hatchback’s registrations. The model overall was #1 in the April auto market. The Tesla Model Y was, surprisingly, 4th, with 442 registrations. This signals Tesla’s benefit from Giga Berlin, with the crossover now having a smoother delivery cycle across the quarter. The midsizer ended the month at #10 in the overall market.

The Ford Kuga PHEV ended the month in the 8th position, with 373 registrations, being again the best selling PHEV model in this market. Ford’s crossover continues to sell in significant volumes, even in a BEV-friendly environment, mostly thanks to the leasing market, where the Dearborn model provides market-leading rates.

In the second half of the table, the highlights are the good performance of Opel, placing both the Corsa EV (#11, with 309 units) and the Mokka EV (#15, with 231 units) in the top 20, and the recent BMW iX1 ending as the best selling Beemer in 16th with 207 units.

Finally, the Polestar 2 reappeared in the table in #18, compensating a bit for the slow month of the Volvo XC60 PHEV. With BEVs representing 69% of all plugin sales in April, versus 66% YTD, the trend towards BEVs continues, meaning that more changes like the one previously mentioned will continue. (Hear that, Ford Kuga PHEV? The Explorer EV is coming to get you….)

Outside the top 20, April witnessed the ramp up of the Hyundai Ioniq 6 streamliner, now up to 127 units delivered, and a few models were very close to reaching the table, like the BMW i4 (172 units) and Volvo C40 (171 units).

Looking at the 2023 ranking, the Tesla Model Y has enough distance over the runner-up Lynk & Co 01 PHEV to remain comfortable in the lead, with the Chinese compact SUV currently more worried about keeping the silver medal from its cousin, the Volvo XC40, than trying to displace the Tesla model from the lead. Maybe when Lynk & Co launches its BEV successor next year?

It will also depend on the future popularity of the Zeekr X, another cousin coming from Geely–Volvo’s apparently never ending furnace of new models.

The podium bearers are already significantly above the remaining competition, with the question now being how they will be aligned by year end.

Still in #5, the Peugeot 208 EV got closer to the #4 Renault Megane EV, so the Pug could climb a position soon.

In the second half of the table, the climbers were the Volkswagen ID.4, up five spots to #11; the Kia EV6, jumping from 18th to 14th; and the Opel Corsa EV, up to 13th.

And with the Opel Mokka EV just 12 units behind the #20 Hyundai Tucson PHEV, we could see a second Opel model in the table soon.

Finally, there are 14 BEVs in the table, one more than in January and three more than 12 months ago. So, the BEV takeover continues to evolve.

In the manufacturer ranking, Volvo (10.6%) recovered the leadership position, after a temporary rise to #1 by Tesla (10.4%) in March.

Meanwhile, BMW (7.5%, narrowly down from 7.6%) remained in 3rd, distancing itself from Lynk & Co (7.1%, down from 7.5%) in the #4 spot.

Finally, in 5th, we now have Kia (6.2% share) thanks to the success of the Niro and EV6, but the Korean make has #6 Volkswagen (6.1%) and #7 Peugeot (6%) dangerously close, so this could be an interesting race to follow.

As for OEMs, the leader, Geely–Volvo, lost share, going from 19.1% down to 18.6%. Stellantis is rising (14.2%, up from 13.3%) thanks to positive performances from both Opel and Peugeot, thus securing the runner-up status.

Volkswagen Group was also up (13.8%, compared to 13.2% in March) and a rising Hyundai–Kia (11.1%, up from 10.1% in March) profited from Tesla’s off-peak month to jump into 4th.