The figures for electric vehicle registrations (a proxy for sales) in France during the month of September 2015 are now in. They don’t really provide any surprises, but they’re probably worth taking a look at anyways.
Altogether, 2,709 electric vehicles (EVs) were registered in France during the month, meaning that overall sales have barely risen at all as compared to September 2014. The EV share of the overall auto market in France remains at just 1.28%.
There are some specific models that have seen their sales rise somewhat, though — the Renault Zoe, in particular. September 2015 saw the Renault Zoe take the top position, with 989 units registered, followed by the Renault Kangoo ZE, with 393 units registered; the Bolloré Bluecar, with 199 units registered; and the Nissan LEAF, with 185 units registered. The fifth position was taken by the Volkswagen Golf GTE, with 172 units registered during September 2015.
Altogether, the takeaway is that the general order of things has stayed the same, but that the Renault Kangoo ZE and the Bolloré Bluecar had relatively good months.
| Model | Sep 2015 | YTD 2015 | Sept Market Share | 2014 Market Share |
| Audi A3 e-tron | 76 | 889 | 3% | 5% |
| BMW i3 | 77 | 600 | 3% | 3% |
| BMW i8* | 5 | 67 | 0% | 0% |
| Bollore Bluecar | 199 | 751 | 8% | 4% |
| Citröen Berlingo EV | 5 | 53 | 0% | 0% |
| Citröen C-Zero | 47 | 205 | 2% | 1% |
| Goupil | 43 | 312 | 2% | 2% |
| Kia Soul EV | 48 | 296 | 2% | 2% |
| Mercedes B-Class Electric | 17 | 72 | 1% | 0% |
| Mercedes 350e* | 10 | 32 | 0% | 0% |
| Mercedes S500e* | 5 | 27 | 0% | 0% |
| Mitsubishi i-MiEV | 0 | 2 | 0% | 0% |
| Opel Ampera | 0 | 6 | 0% | 0% |
| Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV | 72 | 535 | 3% | 3% |
| Nissan Leaf | 185 | 1771 | 7% | 10% |
| Nissan e-NV200 | 46 | 294 | 2% | 2% |
| Porsche Cayenne S E-Hybrid* | 30 | 217 | 1% | 1% |
| Peugeot iOn | 94 | 462 | 4% | 3% |
| Peugeot Partner EV | 19 | 103 | 1% | 1% |
| Porsche 918 Spyder | 0 | 8 | 0% | 0% |
| Renault Kangoo ZE | 393 | 1716 | 15% | 10% |
| Renault Twizy | 37 | 353 | 1% | 2% |
| Renault Zoe | 989 | 7048 | 38% | 41% |
| smart electric drive | 23 | 273 | 1% | 2% |
| Tesla Model S | 81 | 509 | 3% | 3% |
| Toyota Prius PHEV | 13 | 33 | 0% | 0% |
| Volvo V60 PHEV | 0 | 59 | 0% | 0% |
| VW e-Golf | 10 | 96 | 0% | 1% |
| VW e-Up! | 13 | 128 | 0% | 1% |
| VW Golf GTE | 172 | 1306 | 7% | 8% |
| Total | 2633 | 17334 | 100% | 100% |
| PHEV Total | 368 | 3120 | 14% | 18% |
| 100% Electric Total | 2265 | 14214 | 86% | 82% |
Here’s more via the EV-Sales blogspot (where we got these figures):
Keeping the positive note for the domestic models, the Peugeot iOn ended the month selling 94 units, allowing it a #6 in September, while its Citroen twin, the C-Zero, had its best performance in 16 months by registering 47 new cars.
Looking at the YTD ranking, there were a couple of position changes, the Kia Soul EV climbed two positions to #13, switching places with the long-in-the-tooth Smart Fortwo ED. The other two models to climb in the ranking were the Mercedes B-Class ED, up two positions to #21, and the Prius Plug-In, which by clearing stock registering 13 units last month (Best performance since 2013), ascended to #25. In the manufacturers ranking, everything stayed the same, with Renault First (50% Share), followed by Nissan (11%, down 1%) and Volkswagen (9%, 1% less).
So, not much has changed in that regard — French manufacturers (including Nissan, of the Renault-Nissan alliance) still reign supreme in France.
With the recent improvement of the country’s diesel-car-to-EV incentives, perhaps October’s (or November’s) sales figures will see a notable improvement.