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Headed Norway, are we?

Soul EV Star of the Month Edition

More than 16.000 units were sold last month in the European EV market, up an impressive 86% YoY, and with over 135.000 registered this year, YTD sales are headed for over 150k 170k units this year, a significant improvement over the 100k registered in 2014.

Looking at the monthly models ranking, the Mitsu Outlander PHEV is fully profiting from the restyled version, selling 2.509 units, head and shoulders above the Number Two in October, the surprising Renault Zoe, with 1.822 units, its best performance of the year and the best pure electric in the ranking.

In Third we have the VW Golf GTE (1.481 units, best result since July), followed by the Star of the Month Kia Soul EV, that jumped to Fourth thanks to 1.215 units, shattering its previous record of 626 units recorded in September, most of them were registered in Germany, but we all know where they are really headed Norway...

By the way, here is a possible explanation as to why these strange sales transfer occurs between Germany and Norway...Spoiler Alert: It has to do with Carbon Dioxide.

In #5 we have the Good Ol' Nissan Leaf, back to its usual low thousand-something '15 average, waiting for the 30kWh early next year to have a new jump in sales.

A couple of models outside the Top 5 deserve a mention, the VW Passat GTE became the Best-Selling D-Segment car and reached #9 last month, while the Volvo XC90 T8 Plug-in Hybrid became the Best Selling Luxury SUV (287 units) in October, ahead of the chronicle leader, Porsche Cayenne Plug-in (243 units) and the other rising star, the BMW X5 40e PHEV (240 sales).

PlModelSales  
1Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV2.509
2Renault Zoe1.822
3Volkswagen Golf GTE
1.481   
4Kia Soul EV
1.215
5Nissan Leaf1.125

Looking at the YTD ranking, there aren't changes in the Top 10, but some models reached closer to its forerunners: #3 Zoe is only 384 units behind the #2 Leaf, #5 Golf GTE is just 84 units behind the Model S and the #10 Kia Soul EV is 72 units behind the #9 Volvo V60 Plug-in, so a lot can happen in these spots.

But it's below the Top 10 that thing become really interesting: The Porsche Cayenne Plug-In and Mercedes C350e climb one position to #12 and #13, respectively while the Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia twins drop two positions to #14, registering only 99 units, their worst result in over a year. Are they also feeling the 30kWh syndrome?

Another model with slowing sales is the VW e-Up!, with its worst result ever, only 135 units, another position to  #16, considering the free fall it is experiencing in the ranking, last year the little VW was #6, the german brand should give the e-Up! a substantial price cut, overcoming the largest problem that model has: Price.

The problems of some are the benefits of others, and the Mercedes B-Class ED benefited from the e-Up!'s woes to climb another position to #15, signaling another positive month for Mercedes.

Looking at newcomers in the ranking, the Volkswagen Passat GTE climbed nine positions to #21, the BMW X5 40e already joined the ranking at #30, while knocking at the door, there is another posh SUV: The Volvo XC90 T8 is #31, with 289 units...And there are more rookies waiting to join the ranking, like the #33 BMW 225xe Active Tourer is #33, or down a bit further, two more luxury SUV's: The Mercedes GLE500e and the Audi Q7 e-Tron.

In the brands ranking, Volkswagen is stable in the lead of Europe's EV Manufacturers Throne (18%), followed by Mitsubishi (16%) in Second and Renault in Third, with 13%, while Nissan is #4, with 12%, down 1% share.

PlEuropeOct.2015%'14Pl
1Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV2.50922.061161
2Nissan Leaf1.12513.899102
3Renault Zoe1.82213.515103
4Tesla Model S99211.77594
5Volkswagen Golf GTE1.48111.691822
6Volkswagen e-Golf7389.47579
7Audi A3 e-Tron9658.841619
8BMW i39488.30965
9
10
11
Volvo V60 Plug-In
Kia Soul EV
Renault Kangoo ZE
595
1.215
349
4.185
4.113
3.011
3
3
2
7
23
8
12Porsche Cayenne Plug-In2432.622228
13Mercedes C350e3712.5992N/A
14Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia992.452212
15
16
17
18
Mercedes B-Class ED
Volkwagen e-Up!
BMW i8
Renault Twizy
212
135
107
173
2.336
2.327
1.781
1.743
2
2
1
1
29
6
15
11
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
Smart Fortwo ED
Peugeot iOn
Volkswagen Passat GTE
Bolloré Blue Car
Citröen C-Zero
Mitsubishi I-Miev
Mercedes S500e
Toyota Prius Plug-In
Ford C-Max Energi
Porsche Panamera Plug-In
BMW X5 40e
Goupil
256
 151
824
202
125
65
48
22
66
32
240
47
1.719
1.268
1.067
953
812
664
621
554
551
501
371
359
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
10
21
N/A
13
20
17
31
14
N/A
18
N/A
24

TOTAL16.614137.797100
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