In Norway, the car market recorded a slight decline last month. Contrary to the trend, EV sales increased minimally but came in significantly behind the March result. The best-selling model was the Tesla Model Y, but here, too, with declines.
From over 16,800 units in March, the 7,471 new electric cars in April represent a significant decline. However, compared to April 2022 and its 7,207 new electric cars, there are 264 more vehicles, an increase of 3.6 per cent.
As the first month of a new quarter in an import-only market like Norway, it is not uncommon for the April result to be lower than the closing month of the previous quarter. In April, however, the total market in Norway declined by 749 vehicles or -7.7 per cent to still 8,976 passenger cars of all drive types. This gave electric cars a market share of 83.3 per cent, compared to 74.1 per cent in April 2022.
The 7,471 new electric cars (fuel cell cars are not listed separately) were joined by 703 plug-in hybrids (-28.4 per cent compared to April 2022). This corresponds to a market share of 7.8 per cent. Thus, 91.1 per cent of all new cars in Norway had a charging port in April. This is the same share as in March 2023, but at that time, with a higher percentage of all-electric cars.
Registrations of hybrid cars (excluding PHEVs) fell by 43.7 per cent year-on-year to 399 units. Registrations of pure petrol cars (112 vehicles, 1.2 per cent market share) and pure diesel (289 cars, 1.7 per cent market share) were even lower. In April 2022, the internal combustion market shares were still 5.3 and 3.2 per cent, respectively.
The most popular model in April was the Tesla Model Y, with 920 registrations. After February and March, it is the third month in a row with the Model Y at the top, but the 920 vehicles are very few. By comparison, March saw almost as many new Model Y registrations as April across all models, with 7,445 units.
The Tesla SUV is ahead of the VW ID.4 (602) and the Volvo XC40 (453). The latter is offered exclusively as a BEV in Norway. Behind it, the Skoda Enyaq (394) and the VW ID.3 (391) are in a very tight spot. The Audi Q4 e-tron with 322 units, and the Nissan Leaf (315) have more than 300 sales. These figures are based on passenger car registrations only. Suppose light commercial vehicles were also included, the VW ID. Buzz would move up to the third place: With 210 passenger cars and 341 “Varebilers”, 551 new registrations would be enough for the bronze medal.
Looking at the year so far, unsurprisingly, the Model Y is clearly ahead with 9,634 units (25.6 per cent of all new registrations). Behind it, it is very close between the ID.4 (1,974) and the Toyota bZ4X (1,972) – with only 235 new registrations in April, Toyota had to cede second place to the ID.4.
With reporting by Sebastian Schaal.
ofv.no (registrations), ofv.no (by models)
Keyword: Norway: 7,471 new electric cars in April