World Top 10 October 2014

The Zoe is back with the Big Boys. And all it took was to include the Batteries...

Models - Zoe is Back

There were some 28.500 plug-ins sold last month, which is the third best month of the year and represents a 38% increase over the same month last year, with YTD sales nearing 260.000 units with two months to go, it won't be a surprise if the 300k barrier would be broken this year. 

To put that number in context, last year, the total sales number was 212.508, not bad, eh?

The podium places were deeply cemented over the year, so there's not much to talk about there (Although, the Nissan Leaf lost another point in share...), from the Fourth Place below is where the fun starts, the ever-improving  #8 BYD Qin (1.702 units, tenth consecutive record), distanced itself from the suddenly-slow selling Fusion Energi.

There was also a position change in the bottom place of the ranking, with the i-rejuvenated Renault Zoe (1.324 units) displaced the slower-selling Ford C-Max Energi (658 units) from the #10 spot. 

Segmenting the market by car sizes and types, you can see the Top 3 dominating their segments (C - Leaf; SUV - Outlander; E - Model S), the BMW i3 comfortable in the B-Segment leadership and the Ford Fusion also at ease on the D-Segment.

But, what about the other less visible segments?

Here's how they stand, in the A-Segment, the VW e-Up! is holding on to the leadership, despite the Smart Fortwo ED staying just 123 units behind and gaining ground (569 vs 464 in October), MPV's are Ford C-Max Energi territory, just like the LCV's are Renault's (Kangoo ZE), in the Pick-Up Truck segment, the Mitsu Minicab Miev Truck continues to soldier on alone, while in the Coupe/Sports Car niche, the Cadillac ELR (1.073 units) is losing ground to the BMW i8 every passing month and should see the german car pass it like a bullet somewhere in the months left to the year end.

Pl	WORLD	Oct.	YTD	%	'13Pl
1	Nissan Leaf	5.231	50.130	19	1
2	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	2.569	27.115	10	5
3	Tesla Model S	2.352	24.029	9	4
4	Chevrolet Volt (1)	1.569	18.001	7	2
7	BMW i3	2.099	13.373	5	20
8	BYD Qin	1.702	11.175	4	40
9	Ford Fusion Energi	696	10.152	4	9
10	Renault Zoe	1.324	7.472	3	6
	TOTAL	28.495	258.453

Manufacturers -  

Toyota has been under-performing these last months, and Renault is having a Renaissance, being the #5 best selling brand in October, with 1.957 units, its best result of the year so far, let's see if the Battery Included policy will continue to improve the french brand results.

Pl	WORLD	Oct.	YTD	%	'13Pl
1	Nissan	5.276	50.446	20	1
2	Mitsubishi	2.994	30.636	12	3
3	Tesla	2.352	24.029	9	5
4	Ford	1.549	19.293	7	7
5	Chevrolet	1.627	18.992	7	2
8	BMW	2.491	14.298	6	13
9	BYD	1.905	13.425	5	11
10	Renault	1.957	13.009	5	6

(1) - Includes Holden Volt, Opel and Vauxhall Ampera;

e) - Estimate


Questions for November

1 - Will Tesla or Kandi surprise? 

2 - Will the Outlander PHEV post a year best result?

3 - Can Chevrolet reach the #4 Ford?...

4 - ...And can Kandi reach Toyota in the manufacturers ranking?