Outlander pulls ahead of Nissan Leaf
26 OCTOBER 2017 – PLEASE NOTE THAT AN EARLIER VERSION OF THIS PRESS RELEASE IDENTIFIED THE HYUNDAI IONIQ PHEV AS BEING AT NUMBER 9 IN THE LIST BELOW OF MOST COMMON PICG-ELIGIBLE VEHICLES ON THE ROAD. HOWEVER A CATEGORISATION ERROR IN THE OFFICIAL DATA MEANS THE FIGURES FOR THIS CAR ARE NOT RELIABLE. THEREFORE IT HAS BEEN COMPLETELY REMOVED FROM THE LIST PENDING CLARIFICATION. OTHER TOTALS HAVE BEEN ADJUSTED ACCORDINGLY.
The Mitsubishi Outlander plug-in hybrid has extended its lead over the pure battery-electric Nissan Leaf to remain the most common ultra-low carbon car on the UK’s roads.
Analysis by the RAC Foundation of the latest DVLA data shows there were 29,408 Outlanders on the road at the end of June 2017, up 1,731 on the previous quarter.
This compares with the 17,352 Leafs, up 851 on the previous quarter.
Third came the Mercedes-Benz C350 e (7,629), followed by the BMW i3 (7,597) and the BMW 330e (6,039).
Overall, at the end of June 2017, there were 103,212 licensed vehicles on the roads that are or have been eligible for the government’s plug-in car and van grant schemes.
This total is 55% higher than the 66,375 vehicles on the roads at the end of June 2016.
Under the government’s plug-in grant schemes, car buyers can get a grant of up to £4,500, depending on the model, and van buyers a grant of up to £8,000.
Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said:
“The figures reveal a steady take up of ultra-green cars, but they also underline the fragility of the market. Of some 31 million cars on the UK’s roads, just 0.3% are ultra-low carbon.
“Encouragingly, the range of vehicles available for the public to buy continues to expand which demonstrates the automotive industry’s collective determination to offer people an alternative to petrol and diesel vehicles.”
Vehicles that are, or have been, eligible for the government’s plug-in car and van grant schemes and which were on the road in the UK at the end of Q2 2017 (the most recent date for which figures are available).
| Rank | Make and Model | Q2 2017 | Q1 2017 | Q4 2016 | Q3 2016 | Q2 2016 |
| 1 | Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV (all variants) | 29,408 | 27,677 | 25,447 | 23,751 | 21,708 |
| 2 | Nissan Leaf | 17,352 | 16,501 | 14,718 | 14,063 | 12,837 |
| 3 | Mercedes-Benz C350 e | 7,629 | 6,855 | 5,890 | 4,756 | 3,337 |
| 4 | BMW i3 (of which Range Extender version) | 7,597 (5,464) | 6,798 (4,903) | 5,858 (4,198) | 5,217 (3,700) | 4,457 (3,131) |
| 5 | BMW 330e | 6,039 | 4,873 | 3,447 | 2,552 | 1,479 |
| 6 | Tesla Model S | 5,575 | 5,172 | 4,454 | 3,907 | 3,312 |
| 7 | Renault Zoe | 5,432 | 5,212 | 4,974 | 4,744 | 4,339 |
| 8 | Volkswagen Golf GTE | 3,595 | 3,341 | 3,231 | 3,059 | 2,657 |
| 9 | Volvo Xc90 T8 Twin Engine | 2,522 | 2,184 | 1,610 | 1,159 | 813 |
| 10 | Nissan e-NV200 (all variants) | 2,324 | 2,150 | 1,886 | 1,710 | 1,487 |
| 11 | Audi A3 e-tron | 2,084 | 1,961 | 1,806 | 1,699 | 1,634 |
| 12 | Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid | 1,889 | 1,785 | 1,671 | 1,667 | 1,655 |
| 13 | BMW i8 | 1,711 | 1,641 | 1,549 | 1,446 | 1,307 |
| 14 | Vauxhall Ampera | 1,266 | 1,282 | 1,278 | 1,258 | 1,267 |
| 15 | Tesla Model X | 1,112 | 666 | 42 | ||
| 16 | BMW 225xe | 949 | 771 | 460 | 290 | 163 |
| 17 | Renault Kangoo ZE | 876 | 864 | 838 | 805 | 785 |
| 18 | Volvo V60 Plug-in Hybrid (all variants) | 725 | 701 | 610 | 484 | 410 |
| 19 | Volkswagen Passat GTE | 704 | 447 | 180 | 72 | 2 |
| 20 | Porsche Panamera S E-Hybrid | 636 | 513 | 515 | 498 | 475 |
| 21 | Mercedes-Benz B-Class Electric Drive | 488 | 425 | 375 | 333 | 303 |
| 22 | Peugeot Ion | 421 | 418 | 418 | 413 | 405 |
| 23 | BMW 530e | 404 | 29 | – | ||
| 24 | Kia Soul EV | 328 | 288 | 245 | 244 | 193 |
| 25 | Kia Optima Saloon PHEV | 312 | 299 | 231 | 207 | |
| 26 | Mitsubishi i-Miev | 257 | 257 | 261 | 255 | 252 |
| 27 | Citroen C-Zero | 230 | 227 | 227 | 220 | 213 |
| 28 | Smart ForTwo Electric Drive | 224 | 210 | 209 | 213 | 215 |
| 28 | Hyundai IONIQ EV | 224 | – | – | – | |
| 30 | Audi Q7 e-tron | 181 | 79 | 62 | 68 | |
| 31 | Volkswagen e-up! | 171 | 167 | 164 | 161 | 154 |
| 32 | Volkswagen e-Golf | 147 | 137 | 135 | 129 | 123 |
| 33 | Mercedes-Benz S500 Hybrid | 121 | 121 | 124 | 124 | 125 |
| 34 | Chevrolet Volt | 118 | 119 | 119 | 121 | 119 |
| 35 | Renault Fluence | 73 | 75 | 75 | 78 | 79 |
| 36 | Toyota Mirai | 32 | 30 | 12 | 12 | 11 |
| 37 | Ford Focus Electric | 22 | 21 | 22 | 22 | 22 |
| 38 | Mia (all variants) | 14 | 13 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
| 39 | Smart ForFour Electric Drive | 11 | ||||
| 40 | Daimler Mercedes-Benz Vito E-Cell | 9 | 11 | 13 | 20 | 22 |
| 41 | BYD e6 | – | – | – | – | – |
| = | BD Otomotiv eTraffic | – | – | – | – | – |
| = | BD Otomotiv eDucato | – | – | – | – | – |
| = | Citroen Berlingo EV | – | – | – | – | – |
| = | Peugeot ePartner | – | – | – | – | – |
| = | Smith Electric Smith Edison | – | – | – | – | – |
| = | Mahindra e20 | – | – | – | – | – |
| = | Mercedes-Benz E350 e | – | – | – | – | |
| = | Mini Countryman PHEV | – | – | – | ||
| = | Hyundai IONIQ PHEV | – | ||||
| = | Kia Niro PHEV | – | ||||
| Total | 103,212 | 94,320 | 83,169 | 75,771 | 66,375 |
Note: Some of the vehicles above might have been bought without the grant. Some might be licensed to manufacturers and dealers rather than customers. The total number licensed is below the total number of grants claimed because of the lag between an order being placed and the car being delivered.
ENDS
Contacts:
Philip Gomm – Head of External Communications – RAC Foundation
020 7747 3445 | 07711 776448 | [email protected]
Notes to editors:
The RAC Foundation is a transport policy and research organisation that explores the economic, mobility, safety and environmental issues relating to roads and their users. The Foundation publishes independent and authoritative research with which it promotes informed debate and advocates policy in the interest of the responsible motorist.
The RAC Foundation is a registered charity, number 1002705.
The current structure of the plug-in car and van schemes – and the grants available for particular models – are described here:
https://www.gov.uk/plug-in-car-van-grants
Details of the Foundation’s work is available at www.racfoundation.org
The licensing figures by model are available to view on the RAC Foundation website:
http://www.racfoundation.org/data/plug-in-grant-eligible-vehicles-licensed-by-quarter
It is available to embed on your website using the following code:
<iframe class=”highcharts-iframe” src=”//cloud.highcharts.com/embed/igocyt” style=”border: 0; width: 100%; height: 500px”></iframe>
The overall number of plug-in car and van grant eligible vehicles licensed plotted over time (broken down by pure electric versus plug-in hybrids) is also available on the same webpage:
http://www.racfoundation.org/data/plug-in-grant-eligible-vehicles-licensed-by-quarter
It is available to embed on your website using the following code:
<iframe class=”highcharts-iframe” src=”//cloud.highcharts.com/embed/ijykuc” style=”border: 0; width: 100%; height: 500px”></iframe>