March was an exceptional month in Norwegian history as the passenger plug-in electric cars for the very first time reached a market share of 75% (75.2% to be precise)!
The total number of registrations actually decreased by 26.7% year-over-year from the all-time high of 12,764 (when tons of Tesla Model 3 come out a year ago) to 9,358, but it's still the second-best month ever.
The unprecedented surge in market share is mostly the result of a 32.2% drop of overall passenger car registrations, caused mostly by COVID-19, we guess.
Plug-ins were simply significantly less affected as plug-in hybrids actually improved year-over-year:
- BEVs: 6,966 (down 35.1%, at 55.9% market share) + 267 ‘used’ + 184 vans (180 new and 4 used) + 0 FCVs
- PHEVs: 2,392 (up 17.5%, at 19.2% market share)
More from Norway
New passenger plug-in car registrations in Norway – March 2020
After the first three months of 2020, the total number of new passenger plug-in registrations was 22,568 (down 3.5% year-over-year).
As the plug-ins surge to 75.2% of the market, one might wonder what about conventional internal combustion engine cars? Well:
- diesel is at 10.4%
- gasoline is at 7.7%
- and the total ICE (diesel + gasoline) is at a record low of 18.1% (first time below 20%).
The remaining 6.7% are other types, like conventional hybrids.
Models
The Audi e-tron is the top-selling car of any kind for the third month in a row with a record 1,681 new registrations in March (3,754 YTD). If the year 2019 was the year of the Model 3, then 2020 might be (in Norway) the year of the e-tron.
The second-best was Tesla Model 3, which in March finally saw some higher numbers (997). Unfortunately, the other models (S/X) are not in the top 20 anymore.
BEV results already in our database:
- Audi e-tron - 1,681
- Tesla Model 3 - 997
- Volkswagen e-Golf - N/A (688 total with ICE)
- Hyundai Kona Electric - N/A (530 total with ICE)
- Nissan LEAF - 518
- BMW i3 - 298
- Renault ZOE - 242
- Škoda CITIGOe iV - 216
In general, it's difficult to find a non-plug-in model in the model rank.
Top 20 new passenger car registrations in Norway – March 2020
Source: Opplysningsrådet for Veitrafikken AS (OFV AS)