The world’s leading electric vehicle market, Norway, has seen another month of record market share growth in May — 66% share. That’s up from 47% a year ago. Popular all-electric models included the e-Golf, the Audi e-tron, and newcomer MG ZS EV breaking into the top 5.
Despite the Covid-related lockdown that sent the overall German auto market down 61% year over year (YoY) in April, the German plugin market grew 33% last month, having registered 10,253 units.
In the first 4 months of 2020, plug-in vehicles accounted for 5.5% of all auto sales in Ireland. The wild world of coronavirus, though, made something special out of April — or perhaps Ireland’s time has simply come. A stunning 18% of auto sales in the month of April were plug-in vehicle sales.
With the Netherlands escaping a full lockdown, the economic slowdown hasn’t been as devastating as in other markets, with the overall market dropping just 53%.
Despite the Covid-related lockdown in the second half of the month, the German plug-in vehicle market score signaled another record performance in March, its third in a row — 19,145 plug-in vehicles (EVs) were registered. With the overall market dropping 38% year over year (YoY), last month’s plug-in share reached a record 8.9% (4.8% fully electric/BEV), pulling the yearly tally to an amazing 7.3% (3.7% BEV).
When we asked thousands of electric vehicle (EV) owners in Europe the top reasons why they got their cars, we got similar responses as in previous years. The largest portion of buyers in every country referenced the environmental benefits.
EV owners we surveyed almost equally prefer a sedan/hatchback (car) or SUV/crossover for their next EV. The two options switched spots back and forth depending on the audience.
Additionally, in each of these countries, respondents mostly preferred a vehicle in the D-segment.
While the Netherlands does not have yet a full lockdown, the coronavirus pandemic has forced a wide range of businesses to shut down, slowing business significantly, so expect slow sales months at least in April and May … in the overall market, that is.
Perhaps the most fascinating new question in this year’s Electric Car Drivers: Demands, Desires & Dreams reports concerned the electric vehicles people considered but didn’t buy. We asked EV owners which other electric vehicle models they thought about buying before deciding on the one they purchased or leased. I was surprised to see how much people actually cross-shopped across classes while considering which electric vehicle to buy.
The European Car of the Year is not the “Best Buy” advice of a consumer organization. It does not put a sticker on Product X in category Y in price class Z. It does not help customers to choose between the myriad offerings on the market by positioning something as the cheapest, coolest, easiest, safest, healthiest, or greenest product they can buy.
