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ULEV sales remain in favour of PHEV over EV

By / 6 years ago / UK News / No Comments

Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV remains top selling electrified model, according to latest RAC Foundation figures, but ULEV sales continue to surprise with no clear trend.

ULEV sales remain in favour of PHEV over EV

ULEV sales remain in favour of PHEV over EV

Despite Mitsubishi’s overall win in registrations over the past 12-months, the figures highlight the rapidly changing ULEV market, which is seeing cars like the Nissan Leaf (BEV) and BMW 330e (PHEV) almost match each other’s sales, with 4,859 compared to 4,850 respectively.

And, although Nissan will understandably be proud of their all-electric Leaf’s UK best-selling electric vehicle status – Tesla has the second and third BEV slots with the Model S (2,310 sales) and Model X (1,686 sales). Additionally, the premium priced Tesla Model X sold more than the Volkswagen Golf GTE plug-in hybrid model and nearly twice as many units as the Renault Zoe, which sold just 985 in the past 12-months.

The RAC Foundation’s figures also show that BMW’s i3 combined sales for range-extended and BEV variants total 3,148 sales, with the range extended version (REx) accounting for 2,356 of those.

Furthermore, BMW’s i8 plug-in hybrid sports car that doesn’t even qualify for the government’s Plug-in Car Grant (PICG) has sold 273 units in the past 12-months, while Mercedes-Benz’s premium luxury limousine S500 Hybrid has witnessed a decline of -3 cars on the road – from 124 in Q3 2016 to 121 in Q3 2017.

Yet more surprises come in the form of Toyota, which has managed to sell twice as many hydrogen fuel cell powered Mirai (29 sales) than Volkswagen’s battery electric E-up! supermini (15 sales).

Table: Vehicles that are, or have been, eligible for the government’s plug-in car and van grant schemes and which were on the road in the UK at the end of Q3 2017.

Rank
Make and Model
Q3 2017
Q3 2016
12 month total
1
Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV
31,002
23,751
7,251
2
Nissan Leaf
18,922
14,063
4,859
5
BMW 330e
7,402
2,552
4,850
3
Mercedes-Benz C350 e
8,634
4,756
3,878
4
BMW i3 (EV + REX)
8,365
5,217
3,148
7
BMW i3 REX
6056
3,700
2,356
6
Tesla Model S
6,217
3,907
2,310
10
Volvo Xc90 T8 Twin Engine
2,979
1,159
1,820
16
Tesla Model X
1,686
0
1,686
9
Volkswagen Golf GTE
4,384
3,059
1,325
18
BMW 530e
1,174
0
1,174
20
Volkswagen Passat GTE
1,090
72
1,018
8
Renault Zoe
5,729
4,744
985
11
Nissan e-NV200 (all variants)*
2,598
1,710
888
19
BMW 225xe
1,157
290
867
23
Mercedes-Benz E350 e
820
0
820
13
BMW i3 EV
2,309
1,517
792
12
Audi A3 e-tron
2,348
1,699
649
21
Porsche Panamera S E-Hybrid
938
498
440
Hyundai Ioniq total
427
0
427
28
Mini Countryman PHEV
371
0
371
14
Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid
2,005
1,667
338
24
Volvo V60 Plug-in Hybrid
759
484
275
15
BMW i8
1,719
1,446
273
33
Hyundai IONIQ EV
239
0
239
32
Audi Q7 e-tron
260
68
192
36
Hyundai IONIQ PHEV
188
188
25
Mercedes-Benz B-Class Electric Drive
489
333
156
38
Kia Niro PHEV
137
137
27
Kia Soul EV
377
244
133
29
Kia Optima Saloon PHEV
339
207
132
22
Renault Kangoo ZE
904
805
99
35
Volkswagen e-Golf
189
129
60
31
Smart ForTwo Electric Drive
260
213
47
42
Citroen Berlingo EV
61
26
35
43
Toyota Mirai
41
12
29
44
Smart ForFour Electric Drive
27
27
37
Volkswagen e-up!
176
161
15
26
Peugeot Ion
426
413
13
34
Citroen C-Zero
233
220
13
17
Vauxhall Ampera
1,265
1,258
7
30
Mitsubishi i-Miev
261
255
6
46
Mia
14
14
0
40
Chevrolet Volt
120
121
-1
39
Mercedes-Benz S500 Hybrid
121
124
-3
45
Ford Focus Electric
19
22
-3
41
Renault Fluence
71
78
-7
47
Daimler Mercedes-Benz Vito E-Cell
9
20
-11
Total
116,525
75,797
40,728
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Jonathan Musk

Jonathan turned to motoring journalism in 2013 having founded, edited and produced Autovolt - one of the UK's leading electric car publications. He has also written and produced books on both Ferrari and Hispano-Suiza, while working as an international graphic designer for the past 15 years. As the automotive industry moves towards electrification, Jonathan brings a near-unrivalled knowledge of EVs and hybrids to Fleet World Group.