James Glickenhaus is already well-known to car enthusiasts as the guy who had Ferrari fashion him the gorgeous P4/5 by Pininfarina, but now he’s gone one better and built himself his very own supercar: the SCG 003S. And I have to say the result looks great! Sure, the front looks like a slightly smoother version of the Lamborghini Veneno, and the whole car has a lot of elements from the Enzo (nose, canopy-like glasshouse, front fenders), but the final result looks very smooth and dynamic, not unlike the GT by Citroën! Oh, and the aerodynamic channels between the engine bay and the rear wheels, my favorite feature on the 2015 Ford GT, look great in combination with rear wing (which itself looks like a cross between the Ferrari F40 and a modern LeMans prototype). [Read more…]
For the first time, and after many requests from readers interested in this data, I can share recent data on European LCV sales. Between 2009 and 2013, light commercial vehicle sales in Europe have fluctuated between 1,3 million and 1,55 million, with the top-10 best selling brands accounting for over 90% of sales. Eight brands in the top-10 are European, with two Japanese manufacturers competing in the bottom half of the top-10 with either clones of European vans or an in-house van produced locally in the continent.
The traditional leader Nissan Leaf has become the first EV to hit 15.000 annual sales in Europe, adding up to over 33.000 cumulative sales for the model. However, the Renault Zoe has outsold the Leaf in each of the last three months of the year with over 5.000 sales in the last quarter alone. The Zoe has become the second electric car to sell over 10.000 units in Europe in a single year and since demand is no longer limited to customers who don’t mind renting the battery separately, there may be a new best selling EV in 2015. 
Sales of exotic cars in Europe have accelerated their growth curve in the fourth quarter, and almost all of that growth can be attributed to a single model: the BMW i8. The i8 was already the best selling exotic car in the third quarter, but in Q4 its sales shifted up another gear, as BMW’s Plug-In electric hybrid took a commanding 41,6% share of the segment with 612 sales. As a result, the i8 has come within 150 units of the Ferrari 458 Italia in the full-year ranking, even though customer deliveries didn’t officially start until June. In 2015, look for the i8 in first position of the segment from day one.
The large passenger van segment is up 5% to just over 150.000 units in 2014, with the Volkswagen T5 still firmly in the lead, selling more than double of its closest rival, the Fiat Ducato, even with the new generation T6 to be introduced in 2015. The new generation Mercedes Vito Tourer and its luxury twin V-Class (formerly Viano), would be in second place ahead of the Ducato if combined. The Renault Trafic and Opel/Vauxhall Vivaro are down as their new generations have only just been revealed and won’t start deliveries until Q2 of 2015. The Ford Tourneo Custom is up 37%, but sales of the larger Tourneo are down to less than half as customers are waiting for the new generation.
Interesting to see that of the Sevel-Nord triplets the Citroën Jumpy and Peugeot Expert outsell the Fiat Scudo by a 2:1 ratio each, while of the Sevel-Sud triplets the Fiat Ducato sells 12 times as many times as the Citroën Jumper. This is a result of the popularity the Ducato enjoys among coachbuilders and most notably campervan constructors.
Sales of small passenger vans are up 2% to almost 200.000 units in 2014, with the Volkswagen Caddy still firmly in first place, despite a drop of 3%. Its closest competitors, the Citroën Berlingo and Peugeot Parter are down even more. Combined, the two clones would lead the segment ahead of the Caddy. The Renault Kangoo holds on to its fourth place ahead of its distant cousin Dacia Dokker, while the Kangoo’s clone Mercedes-Benz Citan is quickly storming the charts. Ford has successfully launched the new generation Tourneo Connect, which reaches 7th place with almost 10.000 sales.
When excluding the biggest gainer and new segment champion BMW X5, the rest of the segment has actually lost ground, at -1,5%. As a result, the new generation X5 not only reclaims the segment top spot, it more than doubles its share of the segment to 20%, or one in every five sales. The 2013 leader Mercedes-Benz M-Class is even pushed down into third place by the 
The premium midsized SUV segment was booming in 2014, especially in the fourth quarter, when sales were up 25%, leading to a full-year increase of 11%. At close to 293.000 sales, the segment breaks its sales record and looks ready to easily blast through the 300.000 sales threshold in 2015. Leading the charge is the recently updated Volvo XC60, which flamboyantly takes the lead of the segment, for the first time ever in its 7-year long career. Volvo credits the increased popularity to its new generation of 4-cylinder engines, most notably the frugal diesel version, as the D4 engine accounts for more than one third of XC60 sales in Europe.