The Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV continues its dominance of the UK electric vehicle market, with almost 42,500 of the Japanese firm’s plug-in hybrid SUVs on the road by the end of June 2019.
That’s according to the latest set of figures from the Department for Transport (DfT), which update model registration information to the end of Q2 2019. The Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV remains not only the best-selling model overall, but is also the most successful electric vehicle in 2019. A fresh round of updates in Q3 2019 will likely see the sales trend continue when the next figures are released.
Just over 1,900 Outlander PHEVs were registered with the DfT between April and June 2019, more than twice that of the second placed BMW i3. The year’s sales to date (January-June) are just over 3,500 units for Mitsubishi, around 1,500 more than the BMW 350e in second place.
The most successful pure electric model remains Nissan’s Leaf, with more than 25,600 units on UK roads in total – sitting in second place in terms of cumulative electric car sales behind the Mitsubishi. Just over 900 new Leafs have been registered in the first half of 2019, though only 157 of those were in Q2 2019.
BMW’s i3 sits in third place outright and third place for 2019 so far, with Q2’s second place indicating that it’s sales are only getting stronger. As the longer-range i3 120Ah becomes increasingly available, pure-electric sales are only going to continue catching those of the no longer available REX range-extended model. Only a handful of i3 REX were registered in Q2 2019, and there aren’t expected to be any new range-extended registrations with Q3’s data in three months’ time.
BMW might not have any outright best-sellers, but the breadth of its plug-in line-up is clear with the 530e and 330e taking fourth and fifth spots in the cumulative table, behind the i3 in third.
New versions of each 3 Series and 5 Series PHEV have been launched since the end of June, so those figures are expected to pick up again towards the end of the year. Rounding out the top 10 are the Mercedes Benz C 350 e, Tesla Model S, Renault Zoe, VW Golf GTE, and Volvo XC90 Twin Engine for cumulative sales.
Looking at Q2 2019, after the Outlander PHEV and i3 are followed by Jaguar’s I-Pace – only seven units behind the BMW with 937 models on the road. Renault’s Zoe put in a strong performance considering a new model is on its way before the end of the year. A little over 800 registrations put the electric supermini in fourth place for Q2 2019, ahead of the VW e-Golf – another electric model due to be replaced come the end of 2019.
LEVC’s TX range-extended taxi was the sixth best selling electric car in Q2 2019, ahead of the BMW 530e, Range Rover Sport P400e, Tesla Model S, and Audi e-tron. Nissan’s e-NV200 sits between the Range Rover Sport and Tesla, however only around 10% of the Nissan’s sales were MPVs in Q2 2019; a similar ratio between MPV and Van for cumulative sales.
For the first six months of 2019, the usual suspects from above feature, though in a muddled up order. The Outlander PHEV leads BMW’s 530e and i3 for the top three in 2019. The pure-electric Jaguar I-Pace, Renault Zoe, and VW e-Golf sit in fourth to sixth, ahead of the Nissan Leaf in eighth splitting the plug-in Land Rovers – the Range Rover Sport and Range Rover respectively. Finally, the LEVC TX rounds out the top 10 for the year to date.
Notable performances include the I-Pace, which ahas been on sale for a little over a year looking at DfT figures, and its rival, the Audi e-tron. Come the next set of results, another premium SUV is expected to show up for the first time – the Mercedes Benz EQC.
Tesla’s Model 3 makes its debut in the data, and the expectations are that it will quickly climb the charts, moving up rapidly from its current position in 52nd place.
As mentioned above, BMW as a company is performing very well in the UK in terms of electric cars. It’s the best selling manufacturer for plug-in models, with more than 46,000 units registered – made up of the i3, 225xe, 330e, 530e, 740e/745e, i8, and X5 40e. Mitsubishi is in second place, thanks to the dominance of its Outlander PHEV. Nissan’s Leaf and e-NV200 combine to give the company third place in the manufacturer’s table.
Volkswagen have the e-Golf, e-up!, Golf GTE and Passat GTE to take fourth, Tesla’s line up of Model S, Model X, new Model 3, and old Roadster put it in fifth, followed by Mercedes, Renault, Volvo, and Kia.
The Q2 2019 data from the DfT show more than 211,500 electric models on the road, 67% of which are PHEVs with more than 141,000 units. Pure electric models make up almost everything else, apart from 131 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.
