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European EV Sales Update: Nissan-Renault Lead All-Electrics While Mitsubishi Dominates Plug-in Hybrids

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Nissan LEAF and Renault ZOE in front of le Grand Palais in Paris

Europe has been becoming increasingly open to the adoption of electric vehicles, with Germany starting incentive programs and countries like Norway making electric power a very, very attractive option.

So, as the market improves, who has been a best-seller? According to the European Alternative Fuels Observatory, that is actually a bit of a trick question in terms of the first half of this year, as the lead traded back and forth between the Nissan LEAF and the Renault Zoe, giving the Nissan-Renault alliance the top two places on the list. The Zoe actually came out slightly ahead with a total of 11,790 sales at a market share of 12.3%, whereas the LEAF followed with 11,117 sales.

This isn’t really much of a change for Europe, though, as other than the Zoe taking the lead, the top 10 electric car rankings didn’t change. In a distant third was the Model S with 6,846 sales, followed by the VW e-Golf in fourth place with 3,912 sales and the BMW i3 in fifth with 2,438 sales.


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The sixth- through tenth-place sellers contain many names unfamiliar to we Americans, as although the sixth-place car as the Kia Soul EV at 2,126 sales and the seventh-place was the Mercedes-Benz B250e, the final three slots went to the VW e-Up (a small compact car) with 1,367 sales, the Peugot iOn (a rebadged Mitsubishi i-MiEV) with 983 sales, and the Citroën C-Zero (also a rebadged i-MiEV) with 746 sales.

Outside of pure electric vehicles, though, Mitsubishi is dominating the plug-in market with its Outlander Plug-in Hybrid, holding 11.6% market share with 11,097 sales. For comparison, the next-best plug-in hybrid was the VW Golf GTE, which held a far distant place with 5,692 sales and 5.9% market share, followed by the Volvo XC90 T8 Twin Engine at 5,035, the VW Passat GTE at 4,664, and the Mercedes-Benz C350e with 4,323.


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News Sources: Green Car Reports, EAFO