Norway's car market is 94% EVs – and a quarter of them are Chinese

Norway is getting very close to reaching 100 percent electric vehicle sales. While electrification of passenger cars has been stagnating in the rest of Europe, the Scandinavian country set a new world record in August of more than 94 percent EV market share. No other country in the world gets even remotely close to that percentage.

This is partly thanks to electric cars from China which are becoming more and more popular in Norway. Chinese brands increased their EV market share (including Volvo) from 14 percent in 2023 to 23 percent in August this year, according to the sales database OFV.

Compared to last year, BYD was able to triple its sales in Norway, MG was up by 136 percent, and the premium brand NIO rose by 48 percent.

"With the subsidies and the incentives from the government it's a perfect first step for Chinese brands to sell in Norway and we see that has been a success," NIO's marketing manager Monica Sand tells CGTN.

But Norway's policy is not just about promoting EVs, says Christina Bu – the head of the Norwegian Electric Vehicle Association. "It's also about punishing petrol and diesel engine cars. They're pretty much taxed so much that they're getting less and less interesting to buy."

Many expected Norway to miss its target of reaching 100 percent electric vehicle sales by 2025. But thanks to new financial incentives, the Scandinavian kingdom made a big leap this summer. In July, Norway's government introduced a measure which makes the leasing of combustion cars financially unattractive. 

In contrast with the U.S. and EU, Norway is not imposing tariffs on electric cars imported from China.

"Norway has no particular policy for Chinese cars than any other country's electric vehicles," State Secretary Cecilie Kroglund tells CGTN. "We have the same policy for China as for other countries."

Bu says competition coming from China is good for Europe. "It's important that we have a big player like China that is going forward and pushing the rest of the world to follow."

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