Tesla Expands Market Share Lead In Norway

Matthew Broersma,
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Tesla expands top Norwary market share to 20 percent of new cars, even as it loses position as biggest EV seller worldwide to China’s BYD

Tesla has expanded its leading share of Norways’ electric vehicle (EV) market as the oil-producing country seeks to transition all new car sales to EVs by 2025.

Sales data released on Tuesday showed that Tesla accounted for 20 percent of Norway’s overall car market in 2023, up from 12.2 percent in 2022.

Battery-powered electric vehicles accounted for 82.4 percent of all new cars sold in the country last year, or nearly five out of six, up from 79.3 percenet in 2022, according to the Nrowegian Road Federation (OFV).

Norway exempts EVs from many taxes imposed on petrol-powered cars as it pursues the switch to electric, although it imposed some duties last year.

Tesla's Model Y SUV crossover. Image credit: Tesla
Tesla’s Model Y SUV crossover. Image credit: Tesla

Model Y best-seller

Toyota had the second-biggest market share with 12.4 percent, up from 8 percent, followed by Volkswagen with 10.8 percent, down from 11.6 percent.

Tesla’s Model Y crossover SUV was the single most popular model of 2023, followed by Volkswagen’s electric ID.4 and the Skoda Enyaq.

Christina Bu, head of the Norwegian EV Association, told Reuters that EV sales could rise to a 95 percent market share in 2024, although it would be “a big jump”.

But retailer Moller Mobility Group projected a more modest rise to 90 percent, meaning “much work” would still be required to meet parliament’s deadline of 100 percent in 2025.

Tesla overtaken by BYD

In Norway’s capital Oslo more than one-third of private cars are now fully electric and Bu predicted the figure could reach 50 percent in the next two years.

Tesla is in a dispute with unions in the Scandinavian region over its refusal to accept a demand from Swedish mechanics for collective bargaining rights over wages and other conditions.

But Bu said the dispute did not appear to be harming Tesla’s sales in Norway.

Tesla has been the world’s biggest electric carmaker since 2015, when its sales surpassed those of the Nissan Leaf.

But China’s BYD for the first time sold more battery-powered electric cars than Tesla worldwide in the fourth quarter of 2023, according to figures released by the two companies on Monday and Tuesday.