Automotive News Belgium June 2016 - SIBEJO-

Volvo XC90 T8: Belgian EV Favorite.

AWD-Land Edition

June was another great month for plug-ins, with 923 EV's registered, up 93% YoY, with the EV Share slightly up to 1.56%, being currently one of the fastest growing markets in the world.

AWD vehicles continue to own the market, with all the Top 5 places in June belonging to such vehicles: The Volvo XC90 T8 (147 units) was the Monthly Best-Seller, followed by the BMW X5 PHEV (118), Tesla Model S (102), BMW 225xe Act. Tourer (90 units, pb) and the Porsche Cayenne Plug-In (87). It looks like the Ardennes ski-goers are big plug-in vehicle fans...

Looking at the YTD ranking, the aforementioned high-end SUV's occupy the Podium, with six out of the Top 10 positions belonging to AWD vehicles.

Looking at the changes in the ranking, there was an important shift in the Fourth Position, with the Tesla Model S recovering the Fourth position from the Nissan Leaf, becoming once again the best-selling BEV.

The BMW 225xe Active Tourer rose two positions to #6, being without shadow of a doubt this years Best Selling Rookie. Will we see it reach #4 soon? I wouldn't bet against it.

In the manufacturers ranking, leader BMW (27%, up 2%) continues to increase share, while Volvo (22%, down 1%) is losing steam. In Third we have Porsche, with 12%, followed by Mercedes, with 10%.

Pl	Belgium	June	YTD	%	'15Pl
1	Volvo XC90 T8	147	1.015	21	13
2	BMW X5 40e	118	650	13	15
3 4	Porsche Cayenne Plug-In Tesla Model S	87 102	513 381	11 8	2 1
5	Nissan Leaf	33	327	7	8
6	BMW 225xe Active Tourer	90	229	5	N/A
7	Mercedes C350e	31	191	4	16
8	BMW i3 *	26	189	4	3
9	BMW 330e	51	161	3	N/A
10	Mercedes GLE500e	24	149	3	27
11	Renault Zoe	25	130	3	18
12 13 14 15	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV Audi A3 e-Tron Volkswagen Passat GTE BMW i8	15 19 32 7	128 89 85 68	3 2 2 1	6 7 33 9
16 17 17 19	Volkswagen Golf GTE Mercedes B250e Mercedes S500e Porsche Panamera Plug-In	11 5 9 7	65 56 56 49	1 1 1 1	5 11 14 10
20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 31 31 34	Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia ** Volvo V60 Plug-In Renault Twizy Renault Kangoo ZE Volkswagen e-Golf Toyota Prius Plug-In Kia Soul EV Mercedes GLC350e Citroen C-Zero Volkswagen e-Up! Peugeot iOn Smart Fortwo ED Citroen Berlingo EV Audi Q7 e-Tron Peugeot Partner EV Others	13 13 11 3 3 13 3 16 1 5 2 1	46 45 41 30 29 29 18 17 13 12 9 5 5 5 4 3	1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	21 4 15 N/A 17 25 23 N/A 24 21 20 19 N/A N/A N/A
	TOTAL	923	4.842	100

Source: FEBIAC

* - 15 Bev + 11 Rex

** - 2 Pass + 11 LCV

Plug-Ins Versus Regular Hybrids

Pl	Model	June 2016
1	Toyota Auris Hybrid	175
2	Toyota Yaris Hybrid	154
3	Volvo XC90 T8	147
4	BMW X5 40e	118
5	Tesla Model S	102

If we combine June regular hybrid sales with plug-ins, the Toyota Hybrids were topd dogs this month, with the Auris #1 and the smaller Yaris, in #2.

The best selling plug-in was the Volvo XC90 PHEV, with 147 units, in Third, followed by the BMW X5 PHEV and the Tesla Model S.

Automotive News Belgium May 2016 - SIBEJO-

Volvo XC90 T8: Belgian EV Favorite.

SUV-Land Edition

May was another great month for plug-ins, with 741 EV's registered, up 119% YoY, with the EV Share steady at 1.54%, being currently one of the fastest growing markets.

SUV's continue to own the market, with all the places in the Podium belonging to that class: The BMW X5 PHEV (130 units) was the Monthly Best-Seller for the first time, followed by the Volvo XC90 T8 (120) and the Porsche Cayenne Plug-In (116 units, best result in 11 months).

Looking at the YTD ranking, the aforementioned high-end SUV's occupy the Podium, with five out of the Top 10 positions belonging to SUV's.

Looking at the changes in the ranking, there was an important shift in the Fourth Position, with the Nissan Leaf becoming the best-selling BEV, switching places with the Tesla Model S, that with only 9 units, it had its worst month in 20(!) months. Are Belgian Tesla-lovers already waiting for the Model X?

In the manufacturers ranking, BMW (26%, up 2%) has finally replaced Volvo (23%) from the leadership. In Third we have Porsche, with 12% (Up 1%)

There were an additional  4 Toyota Mirai registered last month, with the YTD numbers now at 8 units, making Belgium one of the most successful markets for the Terminator-Car.

Pl	Belgium	May	YTD	%	'15Pl
1	Volvo XC90 T8	120	868	22	13
2	BMW X5 40e	130	532	14	15
3 4	Porsche Cayenne Plug-In Nissan Leaf	116 47	426 294	11 8	2 8
5	Tesla Model S	9	279	7	1
6	BMW i3 *	34	163	4	3
7	Mercedes C350e	24	160	4	16
8	BMW 225xe Active Tourer	41	139	4	N/A
9	Mercedes GLE500e	26	125	3	27
10	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	22	113	3	6
11	BMW 330e	28	110	3	N/A
12 13 14 15	Renault Zoe Audi A3 e-Tron BMW i8 Volkswagen Golf GTE	28 17 15 4	105 70 61 54	3 2 2 1	18 7 9 5
16 17 18 19	Volkswagen Passat GTE Mercedes B250e Mercedes S500e Porsche Panamera Plug-In	18 11 6 4	53 51 47 42	1 1 1 1	33 11 14 10
20 21 21 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 30 32 32 34	Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia ** Volvo V60 Plug-In Renault Twizy Renault Kangoo ZE Volkswagen e-Golf Toyota Prius Plug-In Kia Soul EV Citroen C-Zero Volkswagen e-Up! Peugeot iOn Smart Fortwo ED Citroen Berlingo EV Peugeot Partner EV Opel Ampera Mercedes GLC350e	9 3 11 3 5 1 3 2 4	33 32 30 27 26 16 15 13 11 9 5 5 2 2 1	1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	21 4 15 N/A 17 25 23 24 21 20 19 N/A N/A 28 N/A
	TOTAL	741	3.919	100

Source: FEBIAC

* - 20 Bev + 14 Rex

** - 3 Pass + 6 LCV

Plug-Ins Versus Regular Hybrids

Pl	Model	May 2016
1	Toyota Auris Hybrid	193
2	BMW X5 40e	130
3	Toyota Yaris Hybrid	122
4	Volvo XC90 T8	120
5	Porsche Cayenne Plug-In	116

If we combine May regular hybrid sales with plug-ins, the Toyota Auris Hybrid was #1, followed by the best selling plug-in BMW X5 PHEV, with 130 units, with the Yaris Hybrid down to Third, with 122 units.

Automotive News Looking for EV's - Belgium (Brussels) - SIBEJO-

The upcoming Euro '16 Cup and EV's: A BMW i8 wearing the Belgian Football Team colors. 

Because of my work on the EAFO project, i have been visiting regularly Brussels, and so it was possible to see how EV's are spreading through "The Heart of Europe".

Say that, slowly spreading. Unlike neighboring Holland, where you can bump into plug-ins in any given journey, here you still have to be on the lookout to spot EV's, just like in 2013, but since then a new model has landed and helped change the landscape and most importantly, people's minds...

Tesla Model S - The Californian Sports Sedan is currently the most common EV in the Brussels area, especially in the most affluent suburbs of Belgium's Capital. The fact that plug-ins have a very (Very) favorable company tax system, helps high-priced plug-ins to succeed, as it is visible in the local EV market ranking.

Another symptom of this distorted ranking, is the fact that you can see a number of plug-in Volvo XC90 and Porsche's running around in those suburbs, while more humbler EV's, like the I-Miev triplets, are more difficult to spot. 

In fact, while other dealerships, like Audi, VW and especially BMW, have their plug-ins to show, Renault seems oblivious of their electric offerings in their stands, so a prospective buyer of a Zoe must have a tough job to get its hands on one, and a reason why BMW's i3 or Audi A3 e-Tron's are easier to see than any zero-emission Renault model.

One of the most quirky things Brussels has to offer when it comes to EV's, is the BYD e6 taxi fleet, despite the small numbers, 36 in total, because they are taxis and are always running around (Big batteries help), they are a relatively common sight, not Tesla-common, but close.

Automotive News Belgium April 2016 - SIBEJO-

Volvo XC90 T8: Belgian EV Favorite.

The Belgian Alps Edition

After a record March, April was another great month, with 848 EV's registered, up 156% YoY, with the EV Share now at 1.55%, being currently one of the fastest growing markets.

As was the case throughout this year, in April the Volvo XC90 T8 (153 units) continued to lead the way, this time followed by the BMW X5 PHEV (122) and Nissan Leaf (77).

Looking at the YTD ranking, there are some peculiarities to it, like the fact that the three positions in the podium belong to high-end SUV's, looking down, five out of the Top 10 positions are also to SUV's and what's more, only three models in the Top 10 aren't AWD, which proves the impact that the snow-heavy climate of the Belgian Alps have in consumer needs...

Looking at the changes in the ranking, they all occurred behind the #7 BMW i3, the Mercedes GLE500e climbed one position to #8 (One position away from its best position in the world, #7 in Finland, a country with similar climate as Belgium), the BMW 225xe Active Tourer jumped 8 positions to #9, while its 330e relative climbed four positions to #11, making these two the best Rookies of the Year by far.

In the manufacturers ranking, Volvo (24%) still leads, but BMW (24%, up 4%) is just 20 units behind, so it will be a matter of days until the German brand profits from its strong lineup and becomes the best selling brand. In Third we have Porsche, with 11% (Down 1%), but Mercedes (10%) is becoming increasingly threatening, so another interesting race is developing for the Bronze medal.

There was an additional Toyota Mirai registered last month, elevating the Fuel Cell tally to six units this year, five Mirai's and one Hyundai ix35 FCEV.

Pl	Belgium	April	YTD	%	'15Pl
1	Volvo XC90 T8	153	748	24	13
2	BMW X5 40e	122	402	13	15
3 4	Porsche Cayenne Plug-In Tesla Model S	62 32	310 270	10 8	2 1
5	Nissan Leaf	77	247	8	8
6	Mercedes C350e	32	136	4	16
7	BMW i3 *	28	129	4	3
8	Mercedes GLE500e	36	99	3	27
9	BMW 225xe Active Tourer	73	98	3	N/A
10	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	26	91	3	6
11	BMW 330e	47	82	3	N/A
12 13 14 15	Renault Zoe Audi A3 e-Tron Volkswagen Golf GTE BMW i8	26 10 14 10	77 53 50 46	2 2 2 1	18 7 5 9
16 17 18	Mercedes S500e Mercedes B250e Porsche Panamera Plug-In	13 6 13	41 40 38	1 1 1	14 11 10
19 20 21 21 23 24 25 26 27 28 28 30 31 31 33 33	Volkswagen Passat GTE Volvo V60 Plug-In Renault Kangoo ZE Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia ** Volkswagen e-Golf Renault Twizy Toyota Prius Plug-In Citroen C-Zero Kia Soul EV Peugeot iOn Volkswagen e-Up! Smart Fortwo ED Peugeot Partner EV Opel Ampera Citroen Berlingo EV Mercedes GLC350e	11 9 5 8 11 5 10 2 6 1	35 29 24 24 21 19 15 13 12 9 9 5 2 2 1 1	1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	33 4 N/A 21 17 15 25 24 23 20 21 19 N/A 28 N/A N/A
	TOTAL	848	3.178	100

Source: FEBIAC

* - 14 Bev + 14 Rex

** - 3 Pass + 5 LCV

Plug-Ins Versus Regular Hybrids

Pl	Model	April 2016
1	Toyota Yaris Hybrid	203
2	Toyota Auris Hybrid	194
3	Volvo XC90 T8	153
4	BMW X5 40e	122
5	Toyota RAV4 Hybrid	83

If we combine April regular hybrid sales with plug-ins, the Toyota Yaris Hybrid is the surprise #1, followed by the previous leader Auris Hybrid, down to only 194 units, this slow month might have an explanation with the good performance of its SUV brethren, the RAV4 Hybrid, managing to reach #5, making three SUV's in the Top 5. Here too, SUV's reflect Belgium's Alpine climate...

Automotive News Belgium March 2016 - SIBEJO-

Record Edition

March was another record month, with 936 EV's registered allowed to double sales YoY, with the 2016 EV Share now placed at a never seen before 1.73%, being this one of the fastest growing markets right now.

In March, the Volvo XC90 T8 continued to lead the way, followed by the Tesla Model S and BMW X5 PHEV.

Looking at the YTD ranking, there aren't significant changes in the leading positions, with the Mercedes C350e climbing one position to #6, while the Renault Zoe is now #10, up two positions regarding February.

In the manufacturers ranking, Volvo is leading (26%), followed by BMW (20%, up 1%), and Porsche in Third, with 12%.

As curiosity, there was an additional Toyota Mirai registered last month, elevating the Fuel Cell tally to five units this year, four Mirai's and one Hyundai ix35 FCEV.

Pl	Belgium	March	YTD	%	'15Pl
1	Volvo XC90 T8 PHEV	167	595	26	13
2	BMW X5 40e PHEV	111	280	12	15
3 4	Porsche Cayenne Plug-In Tesla Model S	92 149	248 238	11 10	2 1
5	Nissan Leaf	99	170	7	8
6	Mercedes C350e	42	104	4	16
7	BMW i3 *	34	101	4	3
8	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	23	65	3	6
9	Mercedes GLE500e	24	63	3	27
10	Renault Zoe	27	51	2	18
11	Audi A3 e-Tron	19	43	2	7
12 12 14	BMW i8 Volkswagen Golf GTE BMW 330e	9 12 34	36 36 35	2 2 2	9 5 N/A
15 16 17 17	Mercedes B250e Mercedes S500e BMW 225xe Active Tourer Porsche Panamera Plug-In	4 11 22 10	34 28 25 25	1 1 1 1	11 14 N/A 10
19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 28 30 31 31 33	Volkswagen Passat GTE Volvo V60 Plug-In Renault Kangoo ZE Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia ** Renault Twizy Citroen C-Zero Kia Soul EV Volkswagen e-Golf Peugeot iOn Smart Fortwo ED Toyota Prius Plug-In Volkswagen e-Up! Peugeot Partner EV Opel Ampera Citroen Berlingo EV	13 4 2 5 6 2 5 4 1 4 1	24 20 19 16 14 13 12 10 7 5 5 3 2 2 1	1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	33 4 N/A 21 15 24 23 17 20 19 25 21 N/A 28 N/A
	TOTAL	936	2.330	100

Source: febiac.be

* - 18 Bev + 16 Rex

** - 2 Pass + 3 LCV

Plug-Ins Versus Regular Hybrids

Pl	Model	Mar. 2016
1	Toyota Auris Hybrid	351
2	Toyota Yaris Hybrid	209
3	Volvo XC90 T8 PHEV	167
4	Tesla Model S	149
4	BMW X5 40e PHEV	111

If we combine March regular hybrid sales with plug-ins, the Toyota Auris Hybrid stayed In #1, followed by the Yaris Hybrid relative, while the rest of the ranking was all Plug-in. 

T

Automotive News Belgium February 2016 - SIBEJO-

A common sight next summer in Knokke Heist

Volvo XC90 T8 Reigns Supreme

If February remained below the record numbers of the previous month, nevertheless the 655 EV's registered allowed to be the second best month ever and to triple sales YoY, with the 2016 EV Share now placed at a brilliant 1.48%, being this one of the fastest growing markets this year.

The Volvo XC90 T8 struck a chord in Belgian buyers, which have been bying them in droves (225 units, all-time record for a single model), being the largest market for the swedish SUV this year, staying even in front of the much larger US Market.

Looking at the YTD ranking, we see a 100% Luxury SUV podium, with the aforementioned Volvo XC90 T8 leading the way from a far, while the BMW X5 40e (61 units) and the Porsche Cayenne Plug-In (63), are running for Second Place.

Outside the podium, the Tesla Model S continued in Fourth, now followed by the Nissan Leaf, which surpassed the BMW i3 and reached the Fifth position, one interesting stat of the Leaf is that of the 40 units sold (Best result in a year), only 25 had the 30kWh battery, meaning a 63% ratio for the new battery.

Record numbers for the Mercedes C350e, the 39 units were not only its personal best in Belgium, but also the best result for a Mercedes model in this market. A sign that Mercedes is finally ramping up production?

Two models have landed, both coming from BMW, the 225xe Active Tourer registered its first three units, the career of this model is a question mark and will depend a lot on fleet & company buyers, something that the 330e has it easier, but it also comes with more responsability, as its sales goal is clear: Beat the Mercedes C350e. 

In the manufacturers ranking, Volvo consolidated the lead (32%, up 4%), followed by BMW (19%, down 5%), and Porsche in Third, with 12%.

As curiosity, there were two additional Toyota Mirai registered last month, elevating the Fuel Cell tally to four units this year, three Mirai's and one Hyundai ix35 FCEV.

Pl	Belgium	Feb.	YTD	%	'15Pl
1	Volvo XC90 T8 PHEV	225	428	31	13
2	BMW X5 40e PHEV	61	169	12	15
3 4	Porsche Cayenne Plug-In Tesla Model S	63 42	156 89	11 6	2 1
4	Nissan Leaf	40	71	5	8
6	BMW i3 *	20	67	5	3
7	Mercedes C350e	39	62	4	16
8	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	26	42	3	6
9	Mercedes GLE500e	15	39	3	27
10	Mercedes B250e	11	30	2	11
11	BMW i8	8	27	2	9
12	Audi A3 e-Tron	8	24	2	7
12 12 14 14 16 17 18	Renault Zoe Volkswagen Golf GTE Renault Kangoo ZE Mercedes S500e Volvo V60 Plug-In  Porsche Panamera Plug-In Citroen C-Zero	8 18 2 9 10 8 3	24 24 17 17 16 15 11	2 2 1 1 1 1 1	18 5 N/A 14 4 10 24
18 18 21 22 23 23 25 26 27 27 27 30 30 30	Volkswagen Passat GTE Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia ** Renault Twizy Kia Soul EV Peugeot iOn Volkswagen e-Golf Smart Fortwo ED BMW 225xe Active Tourer Peugeot Partner EV Volkswagen e-Up! Opel Ampera BMW 330e Toyota Prius Plug-In Citroen Berlingo EV	10 6 4 5 1 4 2 3 2 1 1	11 11 8 7 6 6 5 3 2 2 2 1 1 1	1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	33 21 15 23 20 17 19 N/A N/A 21 28 N/A 25 N/A
	TOTAL	655	1.394	100

Source: febiac.be

* - 5 Bev + 15 Rex

** - 1 Pass + 4 LCV

Plug-Ins Versus Regular Hybrids

Pl	Model	Feb. 2016
1	Toyota Auris Hybrid	331
2	Toyota Yaris Hybrid	234
3	Volvo XC90 T8 PHEV	225
4	Toyota RAV4 Hybrid	63
4	Porsche Cayenne Plug-In	63

 If we combine February regular hybrid sales with plug-ins, the Toyota Auris Hybrid stayed In #1, followed by the Yaris Hybrid relative and the Volvo XC90 PHEV vessel SUV. 

Tied in fourth we have the Cayenne Plug-in and Toyota's newbie in the market, the RAV4 Hybrid.