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A couple weeks back, InsideEVs presented a "2012 Top Global Sales List" post.  We openly admit it had a few holes, as we referenced a very comprehensive list of all vehicles sold in the world, not necessary focused on plug-ins.  Some vehicles weren't included in the list, and the overall ranking of plug-ins against conventional vehicles didn't sit well with us.

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So, we did some digging.  Our search for a comprehensive global sales list of plug-in vehicles sold in 2012 turned up zilch.  Partial lists were out there, but most were so incomplete as to add nothing of value to our previous post.

More digging was ordered.  The result?  Not as expected.

The powers that be here at InsideEVs pushed us to create this list, but endless nights of pouring through numbers and countless press releases that contained only vague sales figures made our brains a bit fuzzy.

In the end, we prevailed, though lead man Jay Cole is still showing signs of disappointment over our ability to only approximate sales for a few vehicles (C'mon automakers.  Don't you know the exact amount of vehicles sold?)

Enough rambling.  It's time to present InsideEVs "World's Most Comprehensive 2012 Global Plug-In Vehicle Sales List."

Here's how it'll go.  We'll list, in descending order, global sales of plug-in vehicles in 2012.  The first vehicle posted will be the top-selling plug-in on the global level in 2012.  That same methodology will continue on until the list hits the bottom.

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We didn't bother to include those one-off, limited vehicles that sold in volumes you could count on your fingers and we're you see some asterisks *** means that we've poured through all sorts of press releases and related material, but could only come up with an estimate (if someone out there knows an exact figure, then please assist us by posting it and a source in comment below).

Perhaps shockingly and, even with our limited and approximate data for some autos, plug-in vehicle sales exceeded 137,000 units globally in 2012 and that's not a number that can be taken lightly.

Without further adieu, here's that ultimate 2012 global sales list of 32 plug-in vehicles (or 35 if you separate out Opel and Vauxhall Ampera):

  • Chevy Volt/ Opel-Vauxhall Ampera: Sales 31,400 Units
  • Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid: Sales 27,181 Units
  • Nissan LEAF: Sales 26,566 Units
  • Renault Twizy: Sales 9,020 Units
  • Mitsubishi i-MiEV: Sales 7,917 Units
  • Renault Kangoo: Sales 5,674 Units
  • Chery QQ3 EV: Sales 5,305 Units
  • Citroen C-Zero: Sales 3,152 Units
  • Peugeot iOn: Sales 3,095 Units
  • Tesla Model S: Sales 2,650 Units
  • Mitsubishi i-MiEV-minicab: Sales 2,487 Units
  • JAC iev (J3 EV): Sales 2,485 Units
  • Ford C-Max Energi: Sales 2,374 Units
  • BYD e6: Sales 2,096 Units
  • Bollore Bluecar: Sales 1,543 Units
  • Renault Fluence: Sales 1,407 Units
  • Fisker Karma: Sales 1,073 Units
  • Smart Fortwo Electric Drive: Sales 1,000-plus*** Units
  • Zotye TD100 EV: Sales 845 Units
  • Ford Focus Electric: Sales 685 Units
  • BAIC E150 EV: Sales 644 Units
  • SAIC Roewe E50: Sales 238 Units
  • Toyota Rav4 EV: Sales 192 Units
  • Honda Fit EV: Sales ~150*** Units
  • Zotye 5008 EV: Sales 142 Units
  • Zotye M300 EV: Sales 134 Units
  • Tesla Roadster: Sales 132 Units
  • Coda Sedan: Sales ~125*** Units
  • Changan CX30 EV: Sales 100 Units
  • Chery Riich M1 EV: Sales 90 Units
  • Renault Zoe: Sales 60 Units
  • Shanghai-GM Springo: Sales 11 Units
Footnote: It sort of needs not be mentioned that Jay Cole contributed to this post...but I'll mention it anyways.

Updated: May 4th, 2013 (some more China data added, thanks to Kimmi)

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