|
For anyone seeking to earn a living in Europe’s electric car market, 2012 was a year of disappointment, unfulfilled promises and expectations
Despite combined strenuous industry and government efforts to help the course, Europe’s electric car market, reminiscent of last week’s travel chaos at many snowbound European airports, also lined up on the runway, but clearly failed to take off.
Yet another sign that even the sought-after early-adopters remained reluctant to splash out on the industry’s pricey and much-hyped electric cars,
AID’s exclusively compiled data reveals that just 1,660 took to West Europe’s streets for the first time last month.
Testament to the view that the much talked-about electric car market has clearly failed to get off the ground, a meagre 24,203 was the industry’s total haul at close of play last year, according to AID’s exclusively compiled data.
That translates into a 0.2 per cent electric car sales share for the whole of last year and an equally underwhelming 0.2 per cent for December itself.
0.2%
West European electric car share of new
passenger cars sold in 2012
Other than that, December’s 1,660 electric car sales total for the whole of Western Europe also marks the third lowest turnout for the industry, and only narrowly beat last year’s poor January and February turnout when in turn just over 1,300 units were first registered each month.
In December, as in the month before, market observers were treated once more to a once unthinkable spectacle: more electric cars were sold in both the Netherlands and Norway than in France.
If not for the year, but during December at least, the Netherlands was crowned as West Europe’s electric car capital.
Expressed in sales volumes, December’s electric car sales chart in the region was again headed by the Netherlands, where 288 electric cars were first registered that month.
That compares with 276 same month electric car registrations in Germany and yet another disappointing turnout in France, where just 231 first took to French roads in
December...more
DATA
AVAILABLE TO SUBSCRIBERS WITH THIS ARTICLE:
WEST
EUROPEAN new ELECTRIC CAR SALES by MARKET:
West
European new electric car sales:
by
country DECEMBER 2012
West European new electric car sales: by country FULL YEAR 2012
|
