Ultra-green car figures

Mitsubishi tops ultra-green car league table as overall sales growth halves

The Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-in Hybrid remains the most common ultra-green car on the road in the UK.

However overall sales growth of the greenest vehicles slowed in the last quarter.

There were 12,066 Outlanders licensed at the end of Q2 2015, compared with 9,773 at the end of Q1 2015 – a 23% increase.

By comparison there were 9,310 pure battery-powered Nissan Leafs, a 13% increase on the 8,274 figure three months earlier.

Third in the list of licensed vehicles that qualify for the government’s plug-in car and van grants is the BMW i3 (2,484, up 14%).

The figures are revealed in analysis of DVLA data by the RAC Foundation.

Overall, at the end of Q2 2015 there were 35,241 vehicles on the road in the UK that were eligible for the grants, a rise of 19% on the Q1 2015 figure of 29,673. But this is down from the 38% growth during the previous quarter.

To put these numbers in perspective, in the UK there are 30.9m cars and 3.7m vans. Therefore those vehicles licensed and eligible for the plug-in car and van grants make up 0.1% of the total: roughly 1 in every 1,000.

This is the list of the top-20 vehicles on the road – as of the end of Quarter 2 2015 – which are or have been available under the plug-in car grant scheme (worth up to £5,000 per vehicle) and the plug-in van grant scheme (worth up to £8,000 per vehicle).

Rank	Make and Model	Q2 2015	Q1 2015	Q4 2014
1	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV (all variants)	12066	9773	5273
2	Nissan Leaf	9310	8274	6838
3	BMW i3	2484	2186	1534
4	Renault Zoe	2062	1621	1356
5	Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid	1439	1395	1324
6	Vauxhall Ampera	1250	1226	1169
7	Tesla Model S	1047	903	698
8	BMW i8	823	546	279
9	Renault Kangoo ZE	719	693	663
10	Nissan e-NV200 (all variants)	705	518	399
11	Audi A3 e-tron	570	300	66
12	Peugeot Ion	368	376	368
13	Volkswagen Golf GTE	350	4	0
14	Porsche Panamera S E-Hybrid	336	301	241
15	Volvo V60 Plug-in Hybrid	299	275	232
16	Mitsubishi i-Miev	252	254	266
17	Smart ForTwo Electric Drive	215	216	205
18	Citroen C-Zero	205	206	202
19	Mercedes-Benz S500 Hybrid	138	76	14
20	Chevrolet Volt	125	123	124

Note: As of today there are 36 models that are, or have been, eligible for the plug-in car and van schemes. The full list is in notes to editors. Some of the vehicles above might have been bought without the grant. Others might be licensed to manufacturers and dealers rather than customers.

Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said:

“The march of Mitsubishi continues with the latest data showing the Outlander plug-in hybrid extending its lead over the Nissan Leaf as the most popular ultra-green car in the UK.

“The success of the Outlander looks to be down to three things: a high-profile advertising campaign, good range, and probably most importantly competitive pricing which makes it as affordable to buy as the diesel equivalent.

“But that price is dependent on the government grant. Ultimately all ultra-green cars will have to stack up commercially when the grants are withdrawn. What ministers must ensure is that both consumers and manufacturers have a clear idea of when and how the scheme will come to an end.

“The interesting question is whether Mitsubishi are making money from this model or using it as a loss leader to gain market share and drive out competitors.

“It is worth noting that the growth in the number of ultra-low carbon vehicles on the road slowed significantly in the latest quarter compared with the previous. This is probably due to seasonal variations in car buying volumes but industry and ministers will be keeping a keen eye on the trends to make sure demand isn’t stalling.”

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.

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:

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:

This is the full list of vehicles that are, or have been, available under the government’s plug-in car and van grant schemes and how many were licensed as of the end of Q2 2015 (with Q1 2015 and Q4 2014 as comparisons).

Rank	Make and Model	Q2 2015	Q1 2015	Q4 2014
1	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV (all variants)	12066	9773	5273
2	Nissan Leaf	9310	8274	6838
3	BMW i3	2484	2186	1534
4	Renault Zoe	2062	1621	1356
5	Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid	1439	1395	1324
6	Vauxhall Ampera	1250	1226	1169
7	Tesla Model S	1047	903	698
8	BMW i8	823	546	279
9	Renault Kangoo ZE	719	693	663
10	Nissan e-NV200 (all variants)	705	518	399
11	Audi A3 e-tron	570	300	66
12	Peugeot Ion	368	376	368
13	Volkswagen Golf GTE	350	4	0
14	Porsche Panamera S E-Hybrid	336	301	241
15	Volvo V60 Plug-in Hybrid	299	275	232
16	Mitsubishi i-Miev	252	254	266
17	Smart ForTwo Electric Drive	215	216	205
18	Citroen C-Zero	205	206	202
19	Mercedes-Benz S500 Hybrid	138	76	14
20	Chevrolet Volt	125	123	124
21	Volkswagen e-up!	124	130	118
22	Volkswagen e-Golf	88	83	47
23	Renault Fluence	71	69	73
24	Mercedes-Benz B-Class Electric Drive	61	29	0
25	Kia Soul EV	53	35	20
26	Daimler Mercedes-Benz Vito E-Cell	27	25	23
27	Ford Focus Electric	23	23	19
28	Mercedes-Benz C350 e	19	0	0
29	Mia (all variants)	12	13	14
30	BYD e6	0	0	0
=	BD Otomotiv eTraffic	0	0	0
=	BD Otomotiv eDucato	0	0	0
=	Citroen Berlingo EV	0	0	0
=	Peugeot ePartner	0	0	0
=	Smith Electric Smith Edison	0	0	0
=	Volvo XC90 T8 Twin Engine	0
	TOTAL	35,241	29,567	21,504

Ultra-green cars – latest on-the-road figures18 Sep 2015

Mitsubishi tops ultra-green car league table as overall sales growth halves