January 2023 was a very unusual month in Norway, as the automotive market noted the lowest number of new passenger car registrations since 1962 (61 years ago). In total, only 1,860 new cars were registered last month (down 77 percent year-over-year). That’s a massive drop (by 95 percent) compared to the previous month (39,497 in December).
The Norwegian Road Federation (OFV) explains that several things caused such a result. The first was war and pandemic (supply constraints), which caused lower sales in early 2022 and higher sales in late 2022 (specifically in November and December).
The next thing is VAT for new electric cars with a price above 500,000 NOK ($48,248) starting from January 1, as well as a new weight tax for all passenger cars. In other words, customers rushed to buy cars in late 2022, but in early 2023 there were not too many customers. OFV says that it’s too early to say whether the sales drop will extend beyond the Spring.
Plug-in electric car sales were significantly affected by the above, and in January the number of new registrations amounted to 1,419 (down 80 percent year-over-year). That’s still about 76.3 percent of the total market.
Stats for the month (only passenger cars):
- BEVs: 1,237 (down 81%, at 66.5% market share)
- PHEVs: 182 (down 66%, at 9.8% market share)
- Total: 1,419 (down 80%, at 76.3% market share)
For reference, in 12 months of 2022, more than 153,000 new plug-in electric cars were registered in Norway.
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 accounted for 23.7 percent in January – the highest value in more than two years (1.9% gasoline, 7.6% diesel, 14.2% hybrids).
In terms of top models, we can see the Volkswagen ID.4 as #1 with 212 units and an 11.4 percent share. Strong was also the Toyota Yaris (160), which is a conventional hybrid, followed by the all-electric Skoda Enyaq iV (127).
A big surprise for us is the Mazda MX-30 as #4 (122), slightly ahead of the Volkswagen ID.3 (110). This month is too unusual to draw any significant conclusions.
There are no Tesla cars on the list, which means that volume deliveries ended in December. But, interestingly, we can see 31 Volkswagen ID. Buzz (#17).
