The top position for electric vehicle sales in Germany for the month of February 2016 was, surprisingly, held by the Audi A3 e-tron, with 210 units sold during the month in the market. This was followed closely by the Renault ZOE — with 201 units moved in the country during February — according to new figures from the blog EV Sales.
That brings the total number of Renault ZOEs sold in Germany in 2016 (through February) up to 335 — just above the Volkswagen Golf GTE, with 324 sales for the year so far. The Volkswagen Golf GTE claimed the fifth position for sales in February 2016, with 153 units sold during the month. Here are the charts and a table for all the numbers and more perspective:
| Model | Feb 2016 | YTD 2016 | Feb Market Share | YTD 2016 Market Share |
| Audi A3 e-tron | 210 | 288 | 11% | 8% |
| Audi Q7 e-tron | 123 | 166 | 6% | 5% |
| Audi R8 e-tron | 1 | 1 | 0% | 0% |
| BMW 225xe | 26 | 84 | 1% | 2% |
| BMW 330e | 43 | 43 | 2% | 1% |
| BMW i3 | 171 | 320 | 9% | 9% |
| BMW i8 | 19 | 35 | 1% | 1% |
| BMW X5 xDrive40e | 32 | 69 | 2% | 2% |
| Citroen Berlingo EV* | 5 | 10 | 0% | 0% |
| Citroen C-Zero | 7 | 15 | 0% | 0% |
| Ford C-Max Energi | 2 | 12 | 0% | 0% |
| Kia Soul EV | 15 | 52 | 1% | 2% |
| Mitsubishi i-MiEV | 0 | 5 | 0% | 0% |
| Mercedes B250e | 30 | 50 | 2% | 1% |
| Mercedes 350e* | 97 | 196 | 5% | 6% |
| Mercedes GLE 500e | 58 | 87 | 3% | 3% |
| Mercedes S500 PHEV* | 25 | 40 | 1% | 1% |
| Opel Ampera | 1 | 5 | 0% | 0% |
| Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV | 91 | 193 | 5% | 6% |
| Nissan Leaf | 164 | 240 | 8% | 7% |
| Nissan e-NV200 | 12 | 20 | 1% | 1% |
| Porsche Cayenne S E-Hybrid | 47 | 81 | 2% | 2% |
| Porsche Panamera S E-Hybrid | 22 | 35 | 1% | 1% |
| Porsche 918 Spyder | 2 | 4 | 0% | 0% |
| Peugeot iOn | 6 | 11 | 0% | 0% |
| Renault Fluence ZE | 15 | 30 | 1% | 1% |
| Renault Zoe | 201 | 335 | 10% | 10% |
| Smart Electric Drive | 14 | 34 | 1% | 1% |
| Tesla Model S | 91 | 129 | 5% | 4% |
| Tesla Model X | 0 | 1 | 0% | 0% |
| Toyota Prius PHEV | 5 | 9 | 0% | 0% |
| Volvo XC90 T8 | 60 | 103 | 3% | 3% |
| Volvo V60 T8 | 7 | 47 | 0% | 1% |
| VW e-Golf | 69 | 113 | 3% | 3% |
| VW e-Up! | 70 | 97 | 4% | 3% |
| VW Golf GTE | 153 | 324 | 8% | 9% |
| VW Passat GTE | 83 | 146 | 4% | 4% |
| Total | 1977 | 3430 | 100% | 100% |
| PHEV Total | 1107 | 1968 | 56% | 57% |
| 100% Electric Total | 870 | 1462 | 44% | 43% |
The third position, as you can see, was taken by the BMW i3, with 171 units sold during the month. The BMW i3 also currently holds the third slot for cumulative 2016 sales — with 320 units sold so far this year in Germany. Worth noting is that a large portion of the BMW i3s sold were of the range-extended version, rather than the pure-electric (104 vs 67).
Audi A3 e-tron sales for the year now rest at 288 units. The Nissan LEAF followed close behind with 164 units sold during February (the fourth sales position), and 240 for the year to date (the fifth sales position).
Perhaps the most interesting thing about the German market, though, is the large number of models there — 37!
The EV Sales blog provides more perspective on the market:
In a market up 78% YoY, the EV Share is still at 0.74%, consumers are probably waiting for the incentives policy to be finally approved, maybe then the market share finally can reach the symbolic 1% barrier.
After the Kia Soul EV stealing the show in 2015, the German EV market is back at its usual self, with various candidates to Number One and several changes in the top positions, this time it was the Renault Zoe turn to seat at the Leader’s Throne, but the local runners are really close, especially the VW Golf GTE (#2, 11 units behind) and BMW i3 (#3, 15 units less), so the french hatch has to keep a close eye on the rearview mirror, if it wants to keep the #1 position a little longer.
…Looking at the manufacturers ranking, Volkswagen continues in the Top Spot, with 20% share (Down 1%), followed by BMW (16%, down 2%) and in Third we now have Audi (13%), benefitting from a positive month of the A3 e-Tron and the aforementioned Q7’s e-Tron push.
As mentioned above, Germany’s electric vehicle (EV) market is not seeming too impressive, but with the expected implementation of substantial EV incentives in the near future, this could change relatively rapidly.