47% Of New Cars In Netherlands Now Plugin Cars!
In the Netherlands, 47% of new car sales were plugin car sales in September. Furthermore, 34% were full electrics!
The Netherlands saw an increase in plugin registrations to 13,916 units in September, with the Dutch plugin vehicle (PEV) market thus reaching 47% of the overall auto market last month. That pulled the year-to-date (YTD) score to 43% (29% BEV). That’s mostly thanks to pure electrics (34% of new vehicle sales), which represented 72% of all plugin sales, pulling the yearly average to 69%. The overall market is also rising — although, at a slower rate (+17% YoY). It rose to 29,855 registrations.
Expect the final plugin share for 2023 to end close to 50%, probably around 47%, which could mean that the Dutch market could have its EV transition finished before the end of the decade!
In September, Tesla had the Model Y ending #1 in the overall Dutch auto sales ranking, with double the sales of the #2 VW Polo!
Looking at the overall top 5, only two models (#2 VW Polo & #4 Kia Picanto) don’t have plugin versions. Interestingly, they are either city cars (Picanto) or belong to the B-segment/subcompact category (Polo). The remaining models in the top 5 (#1 Tesla Model Y, #3 Kia Niro, #5 Peugeot 208) are either full electric (Model Y) or heavily electrified (73% of Niro sales belong to the BEV version, while the French hatchback is at 71% of electrification rate).
This shows once again that while the EV transition in the upper half of the market is well advanced, the lower half still has a long way to go. Those promised €20,000-ish small EVs are badly needed….
Below the US crossover, the Volvo XC40 went back to normal, with its 673 registrations (597 of which were BEVs) allowing it to end the month in 2nd. The Kia Niro, meanwhile, had its best score since the new generation landed, 603 registrations (583 of them being BEVs), pulling it to the last place on the podium.
In the first half of the table, the highlights come from Peugeot and BMW. The #6 Peugeot e-2008 EV scored its best result since December 2021, 397 deliveries, while the #7 BMW iX1 broke a new record by getting 381 registrations in September — confirming both models’ popularity.
Overall, the Bavarian automaker had a positive month. Not only did the iX1 get a record result, but the German make also placed the i4 in #15, with 213 registrations, and the iX3 in #19, with 184 registrations. That allowed it to place three models in the top 20, the only make able to achieve that.
At the bottom end of the table, the highlight is the Jeep Avenger EV, surging to #12 thanks to a record 259 registrations, confirming a trend that had been in the making for a while. Now, the question is: Will the Polish-made Jeep become a regular in the top 20?
Outside the top 20, the highlights came from Mercedes. The EQB scored a record 126 registrations, while its slightly smaller sibling, the EQA, had its best result since 2021, with 138 deliveries. A mention also goes out to the Hyundai Kona EV — thanks to the first units of the new generation, it had 128 registrations and should return to the table soon.
Looking at the 2023 ranking, the Tesla Model Y has almost double the registrations of the runner-up model, so its position is more than secure. The same can’t be said about the remaining positions on the podium. The Volvo XC40 surpassed its Chinese cousin, the Lynk & Co 01, and returned to the #2 spot. Only 61 units now separate the Lynk & Co model and its Swedish cousin. The recent slowdown of the China-made model could mean that the Volvo XC40 is now the most likely candidate for the silver medal.
Off the podium, and seeing the Geely–Volvo models slowing down, both the #4 Peugeot e-208 and #8 Tesla Model 3 could aspire to reach the podium, all depending now on how fast the two brands can ramp up deliveries of the refreshed models, set to land in the next few weeks.
Another highlight in the top positions is the Kia Niro, which was up to 6th, confirming its popularity on Dutch roads.
In the second half of the table, there were a number of position changes, starting with the Peugeot e-2008, which climbed from 14th to 13th. The little crossover switched places with the BMW i4, which now has its sibling BMW iX1 just seven units behind. The popular electric crossover rose one position in September, to #15. Expect the smallest of electric Beemers to surpass its liftback stablemate in October, thus becoming the best selling premium model on the table.
Still on the premium compact crossover theme, the Audi Q4 e-tron also climbed one position, in this case to 17th, while the MG 4 was up one position, to #19, an unusually low position for the value-for-money king. Maybe MG is starving the Dutch market to benefit others?
In the manufacturer ranking, leader Tesla (11.3%, up from 11.1%) remains strong, but below it, we see BMW (8.4%, up from 8.3%) surpassed Volvo (8.3%) in September and became the new runner-up brand. This time Volvo hasn’t lost share, but with the Swedish brand having lost more than 1% share in the previous months (it had 9.4% in June), it was easy prey for the German make. Is the highly anticipated EX30 drying up demand for the current models?
Meanwhile, Peugeot (7.1%, up from 7%) benefitted from good performances from its 208/2008 best sellers to distance itself from #5 Volkswagen (6.7%, down 0.1%).
As for OEMs, leader Stellantis (16.4%) failed to benefit from the good results of both Peugeot and Jeep, because Opel had a slow month and prevented them from increasing share.
#2 Volkswagen Group (15.4%) remained stable, with a strong Skoda compensating for a slower than usual Volkswagen.
Geely–Volvo continued its steep descent, having dropped from 14.8% in August to its current 14.4%, but this time it wasn’t Volvo’s fault — that responsibility fell on the shoulders of Polestar and even more so Lynk & Co, which is likely suffering from the shift away from PHEVs and into BEVs.
Finally, #4 Tesla (11.3%, up from 11.1%) distanced itself a little from the Koreans, Hyundai–Kia, which nevertheless had a positive month (11.1%, up 0.1%).
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