In the waning months of 2016, no dramatic changes occurred in European plug-in electric car sales.
The established players remained on top of the sales charts, in virtually the same sequence seen in previous months.
The Renault Zoe was again the best-selling electric car in Europe between January and November, the most recent month with available data.
DON’T MISS: Plug-in electric car sales in Dec: 2016 best year yet, Bolt EV launches, Model S record (update)
Renault’s electric hatchback racked up 18,471 sales during that period, according to the running tally of electric-car and plug-in hybrid sales kept by the European Alternative Fuels Observatory (EAFO).
Those sales still represent the current version of the Zoe, rather than the updated longer-range model whose deliveries will begin early this year.
Introduced at the 2016 Paris Motor Show, the updated Zoe features a larger, 41-kilowatt-hour battery pack, which essentially doubles its range to 300 to 400 kilometers (185 to 250 miles) on the European test cycle.
Nissan Leaf on scenic drives in Europe
Although deliveries have not started, Renault began taking orders for the updated model in certain European markets late last year.
In the sales rankings, the Zoe was once again followed by Renault alliance partner Nissan’s Leaf, which achieved 16,735 sales.
The Renault-Nissan duo was followed by the Tesla Model S, with 10,923 sales.
ALSO SEE: 2017 Renault Zoe electric car: larger battery doubles range (Sep 2016)
The EAFO uses registration data to determine its figures, which is how it can calculate monthly Model S sales.
Tesla Motors refuses to release official monthly sales results or break down its quarterly delivery reports by country or region.
Landing just outside of a podium finish was the BMW i3, with 8,271 sales.
2017 Volkswagen e-Golf
It was followed by the Volkswagen e-Golf and Kia Soul EV, which achieved 6,362 sales and 4,076 sales, respectively.
Next came the Mercedes-Benz B250e (3,245 sales) and Tesla Model X (2,602 sales).
Two small electric city cars rounded out the top 10.
MORE: Nissan and Renault to share common electric-car platform in future (Dec 2016)
The Volkswagen e-Up’s 2,223 sales landed it in ninth place.
The Peugeot iOn—a re-badged Mitsubishi i-MiEV—was at the bottom, with 1,756 sales.
That car, incidentally, is by far the oldest electric car on the market today, having gone on limited sale in Japan almost 10 years ago—several lifetimes in the electric-car field.
2017 Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-In Hybrid
Plug-in hybrids
The Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-In Hybrid once again took top honors in its category, with 18,806 sales.
It was followed in the sales rankings by the Volkswagen Golf GTE and Passat GTE, which racked up 10,003 sales and 9,888 sales, respectively.
Next came the Mercedes-Benz C350e, with 8,469 sales, and the Volvo XC90 T8 “Twin Engine,” with 8,186 sales.
They were followed by the BMW 330e (7,309 sales) and Audi A3 Sportback e-tron (5,727 sales).
Three BMW models completed the top 10 best-selling plug-in hybrid rankings.
2016 BMW 225xe
The 225xe Active Tourer’s 4,984 sales got it eighth place.
Active Tourer hatchback models wear 2-Series badging, but are based on a front-wheel drive platform and have nothing in common with the rear-wheel drive 2-Series coupe and convertible sold in the U.S.
The Active Tourer was followed by the X5 xDrive40e SUV, which achieved 4,914 sales.
Finally, the range-extended BMW i3 REx reached 4,901 sales.
The i3 REx is considered a plug-in hybrid for the purposes of the EAFO tally.
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