Electric Touring Car, Dyson Hiring Spree and Model 3 Sales Crown | 4 Mar 2018
February EV Sales | Model 3 Wins Sales Battle | Dyson Wants 300 More EV Experts | VW Vizzion Set For Geneva | SEAT Go Touring Car Racing With Electric Cupra
Sunday 4th March 2018.
FEBRUARY EV SALES
- For February sales there are a couple of models people will look at first. The Model 3 should be on a steep production curve heading upwards, and the new Nissan LEAF should start to see sales picking up as deliveries happen.
- According to InsideEVs the Kia Niro PHEV and Hyundai IONIQ report their first full month of sales, as we’re still waiting on those.
- Starting with the newest entrant and the LEAF sold 895 cars in February, and that’s with a constrained supply with most of those already spoken for. More cars should be arriving at dealers soon, although it’s currently 6th in the charts for February. March should see a sharp increase, but it has been noted that even those who wanted to get one early doors couldn’t get anything earlier than late Feb, early March delivery.
- The Chevvy Bolt is up almost 50% from this time last year, last month at 1,477, although it wasn’t on sale nationwide until half way through the year. The popular Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, which does very well in the UK, struggles to get over 300.
- The Toyota Prius Prime, or the Prius Plug-In as it’s called here in the UK, sold over 2,000 in North America, also up 50% on this time in 2017.
- As always with Tesla they don’t provide monthly numbers so it’s a best guess. So the Top 10 in order: Tesla Model 3, Toyota Prius Prime, Chevrolet Bolt, Tesla Model S, Chevrolet Volt, Nissan LEAF, Honda Clarity PHEV, Tesla Model X, Ford Fusion Energi and BMW i3 including the REX.
- Of those the Honda and Ford aren’t available here in Europe. But yesterday we told you about how well the e-GOLF is selling and yet it can’t get over 200 a month in the USA.
DYSON DOUBLES UP
- Readers of Autocar may have picked up on the latest news from Dyson, makers of fine vacuum cleaners and hand dryers, who are making the pivot into electric cars. It seems the reveal of their first EV is still set for 2019, and now they’re increasing their workforce with 300 new hires in their EV department. So far Dyson has announced £2billion ($2.7billion) investment in their electric car project.
- They are due to move into a 750 acre facility with their 700 employees working on their huge EV investments, which include big bets on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Solid State batteries, following their Sakti3 investment in 2015.
- James Dyson is not a fan of diesel and how governments have incentivised buying them. He says: “Governments around the world have encouraged the adoption of oxymoronically designated ‘clean diesel’ engines through subsidies and grants. Major auto manufacturers have circumvented and duped clean air regulations. As a result, developed and developing cities are full of smog-belching cars, lorries and buses. It is a problem that others are ignoring,”
https://paultan.org/2018/03/02/dyson-ev-crew-to-gain-300-develop-ai-tech-report/
DAYS AWAY FROM GENEVA
- VW is set to show off it’s 4th EV at the 88th Geneva Motor show. They will be taking the new Vizzion EV to Switzerland as an addition to the I.D., I.D. Crozz and I.D. Buzz. This is the model which will be up against the premium luxury cars like the Model S, but not until 2022. Looking forward 4 years, Volkswagen are confident of having Level 5 autonomous driving in place.
- Also at Geneva will be one of the recent hits, that’s the Hyundai Kona. We only heard the specs a few days ago but forums and EV blogs seemed delighted with the first of a new breed of electric cars and PHEV hybrids coming from Hyundai / Kia. The WLTP range of almost 300 miles should be good for 250 miles in real world driving which is enough for week long commuting, taking the kids to football practice and a day trip on Sunday. You might only plug it in once a week.
SEAT GO RACING WITH CUPRA
- Well talking of Geneva SEAT will launch the Cupra e-racer as what they call the worlds first 100 percent electric racing touring car.
- Based on the SEAT Leon platform it will then be supersized with new bumpers, bonnet, grill and a suitably extravagant rear wing, adding plenty of carbon fibre along the way.
https://www.carscoops.com/2018/03/cupra-e-racer-worlds-first-ev-touring-car/
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