Tesla is one of the reasons Norway will reach its ambitious transport electrification goal. Four cars out of five bought in 2022 in the Nordic country were electric. Tesla sold the most cars for a brand for the second year running.
The EV maker took 12.2% of the whole market, followed by Volkswagen with 11.6%. These figures were revealed by car registration data for the country and shared by Automotive News Europe.
Norway, with 5.5 million inhabitants, has achieved the highest proportion of electric vehicles of any country in the world. It boosted interest in battery-powered automobiles with generous incentives. Many EV makers now use the country as a testing ground for expanding into Europe.
The country recorded 79.3% of new cars as electric in 2022, a significant jump from 65% in 2021. The Tesla Model Y led the charge, with Volkswagen ID.4 in second place. The Skoda Enyaq came third.
The 100,000th Tesla car was registered in Norway late last year. The Model Y was the best-selling car in the country in November and broke the sales record set by Volkswagen’s Beetle more than 50 years ago as the most popular car.
The subsidies represented $4.0 billion in lost revenue to the government in 2022. The government is now making moves to remove incentives from high-end electric vehicles.
However, the Norwegian Automobile Federation has said removing the subsidy will make EV sales drop. But the government argues EVs are already established and can be weaned of incentives.
EVs account for 84% of Norway’s January 2022 passenger car sales
