Europe’s largest auto market, Germany, hit another all-time record plug-in electric vehicle market share in March, reaching 9.2%. The Tesla Model 3 was the best selling full electric model, with an estimated 1490 sales, just ahead of the Renault Zoe. Overall auto market volume fell 38% year on year.
France saw a remarkable 11.7% market share for plug-in electric vehicles in March, exceeding January’s breakout result, and bringing the Q1 2020 tally to 9.7%. This is almost 4× growth in market share compared to Q1 2019 (2.6%).
The European passenger plug-in market landed over 69,000 registrations in February (+111% compared to February 2019), with the 2020 plug-in market growing 117%, to some 144,000 units. This is a great performance that should help to weaken the effect of the upcoming coronavirus months, in which sales will most likely fall abruptly throughout the continent.
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.
Yes, the Swedish electric vehicle market is an odd one in which approximately 80% of electric vehicle sales are plug-in hybrids, leaving only 20% of the market for fully electric vehicles. Most EV markets are around 50–50 or favor fully electric vehicles (BEVs). Nonetheless, an overall EV market share of 26% is a stunning achievement in early 2020.
The Swiss plug-in electric vehicle market rose to 8% of the overall Swiss auto market in February, led by the evergreen Renault Zoe.
How much do diverse EVs vary based on the weather? The Norwegian Automobile Federation answers that question for 20 EVs.
Travelling widens your view of the world. These last few months, in the midst of auto industry conferences and travel, I have suddenly been encountering situations in the auto world that really open my eyes.
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.
Following the start of the EU’s new CO2 rules, the German plug-in market has (finally) clicked and February signaled another record performance, its second in a row, having registered 16,508 units in February.
