Norway: Electric Car Sales Shoot Through The Roof In December 2022

Roughly four out of five new passenger cars purchased were all-electric.

Tesla Model Y (Midnight Cherry Red)

Mark Kane

By: Mark Kane

Jan 3, 2023 at 8:29am ET

Add InsideEVs as a preferred source in Google

Comment

New passenger car sales in Norway almost doubled in December, reaching 39,497 registrations (up 92 percent year-over-year). The recent surge almost allowed Norway to match the previous year's sales volume. In total, some 174,329 new cars were registered in 2022 (down 1.1 percent year-over-year).

Even more spectacular growth in sales is reported by the Norwegian Road Federation (OFV) in the all-electric car segment.

December brought a massive record of new passenger all-electric car registrations, which amounted to 32,714 (an increase of 137 percent year-over-year). That's about 82.8 percent of the total market.

It seems that finally, some serious BEV shipments arrived in Norway, which indicates that throughout the year, sales were limited by insufficient vehicle supply.

On the plug-in hybrid car side, the 1,905 units registered in December mean a decrease of almost 60 percent year-over-year. Well, PHEV suffered an entire year due to reduced tax incentives (CO2 emission component).

Anyway, the overall plug-in electric car sales were at a record high at over 34,619 units and 87 percent of the market. Norway clearly is at the forefront of electrification and a fifth of all cars in the country are zero-emission today.

Stats for the month:

BEVs: 32,714 (up 137%, at 82.8% market share) + 1,242 new vans
PHEVs: *1,905 (down 60%, at 4.8% market share)
Total: 34,619 (up 87%, at 87.6% market share)

** PHEV numbers updated after the OFV.*

New passenger plug-in car registrations in Norway – December 2022

Thanks to the very high number of BEV deliveries during the last month, the overall number of plug-in car registrations (BEVs/PHEVs) in 2022 was higher than in 2021 by almost one percent (153,144 versus 151,917).

We must remember that plug-in hybrid sales collapsed, while at the same time, all-electric cars were up by 21.6 percent.

Plug-in car registrations year-to-date:

BEVs: 138,292 (up 21.6%, at 79.3% market share)
PHEVs: 14,857 (down 61%, at 8.5% market share)
Total: 153,144 (up 0.8%, at 87.8% market share)

The gasoline, diesel, and non-rechargeable hybrids were in the minority in December with 12.4% of the market last month (6.3% gasoline, 2.5% diesel, 3.6% hybrids).

Models

Tesla, with 5,405 new registrations in December and 21,303 in 2022, once again was the most popular brand in Norway, improving its annual result by 3.2 percent (from 20,646 in 2021). Volkswagen, as the second most popular brand, was at respectively 4,145 and 20,184 units.

In December, Tesla delivered a record number of Tesla Model Y, achieving 4,524 new registrations, which is 11.5 percent of all new cars during the month. With 17,356 units registered in 2022, the Model Y not only became the most popular model but even broke a sales record from 1969. For reference, in 2021, the best-selling model in Norway was the Tesla Model 3 (12,150).

The second most popular car in Norway, both in December and in 2022, was the Volkswagen ID.4 with respectively 2,075 and 11,561 units. Skoda Enyaq iV was third last year (7,558), ahead of the BMW iX (6,395).

What do you think?

View

Comments

Interestingly, the Toyota Yaris at #6 (5,381), is the only non-rechargeable model in the top 10.

In general, the Norwegian list of top models is usually full of electric crossovers/SUVs, many of which are premium. But there is nothing static and the market evolves every year - the Tesla Model 3, which won in 2021, was just #17 this year.