Electric cars took 89% of Norway market in 2024, as Chinese sales rocket

Electric cars accounted for 89 percent of the new cars sold in Norway last year, a report said on Thursday, pushing the country closer to reaching its goal of going fully electric by 2025.

At the same time, Chinese electric cars surged to account for almost one in ten new car sales in Norway in just five years, data from the country's road federation (OFV) showed on Thursday.

Of the 128,691 new car registrations in Norway last year, 114,400 were electric, the highest share of any major national car market and up from an 82 percent share in 2023.

"We need only 10 percent more to reach the objective for 2025," the Norwegian Road Federation (OFV) said in a statement.

Despite being a major oil and gas producer, Norway aims for all new cars sold to be "zero emission" starting in 2025, which is 10 years ahead of the goal set by the European Union, of which Norway is not a member.

In 2012, electric cars accounted for just 2.8 percent of sales, but they have since exploded thanks to various incentives.

Electric cars were exempted from many taxes, making them competitive against heavily taxed internal combustion cars. They have also benefited from toll exemptions, free parking in public car parks, and the use of public transport traffic lanes.

While some tax breaks and incentives have been rolled back over the years, electric cars have become commonplace.

"It is crucial to maintain the incentives that favour the purchase of electric cars if the government and parliament are to achieve the goal they themselves set," Oyvind Solberg Thorsen, director of OFV, said in a press release.

Chinese breakthrough

Unlike the EU and U.S., Norway has not imposed import tariffs on Chinese EVs.

Brussels and Washington say Chinese EVs benefit from unfair subsidies, which Beijing denies, and Western automakers have warned they could be hit hard by cheap Chinese imports, although there have been doubts if buyers would adopt unfamiliar brands.

In Norway, the combined market share of Chinese manufacturers such as MG, part of SAIC Motor and XPeng increased to 8.8 percent last year, up from 5.1 percent in 2023 and 4.1 percent in 2021, according to OFV data on the top 20 car brands sold.

The first Chinese EV to arrive in Norway, from MG, was shipped only five years ago, in January 2020.

"The Norwegian car market is probably one of the toughest in the world," said Christina Bu, head of the Norwegian EV association. "There's fierce competition."

Starting in November 2024, the EU increased import duties on Chinese EVs to up to 45.3 percent.

"We treat all countries alike," said Norway's deputy transport minister Cecilie Knibe Kroglund. The Nordic country is not part of the EU.

The EU's move followed a decision by the United States to increase import tariffs on Chinese EVs to 100 percent of their value in 2024 from 25 percent before.

China became the world's top car exporter in 2023, selling some 1.2 million EVs worldwide.

"In 2025, it will be interesting to see whether new Chinese brands and models will manage to strengthen their position among buyers," said Thorsen.