OSLO: Electric vehicles (EVs) maintained their dominance in Norway’s new car market throughout 2023, as revealed by the latest statistics from the Norwegian Road Federation on Tuesday, reported Xinhua.
The data showed a significant uptick in EV sales, reaching a record high of 82.4 per cent of the total new car market last year, up from 79.3 per cent in 2022, marking a 3.1 percentage point increase.
In total, Norway saw 126,953 new cars sold in 2023, with electric vehicles accounting for more than 104,600.
Among the leading brands in this surge, Tesla, Toyota, and Volkswagen emerged as the top sellers. Notably, brands with Chinese backing, such as Volvo, MG, Polestar and BYD, made impressive strides, securing positions in the top 20 in sales.
Christina Bu, secretary-general of the Norwegian EV Association, predicted that EVs could represent over 90 per cent of the new car sales this year, highlighting the government’s decision to raise the purchase tax rate on fuel vehicles in 2024, a move expected to further boost the market share of EVs in Norway.
Norway has been at the forefront of the EV movement, having set an ambitious target in 2016 to achieve 100 per cent sales of zero-emission vehicles by 2025, excluding heavy vehicles.
To realise this target, the Norwegian government has implemented a range of incentives over the years to encourage the adoption of cleaner transportation options and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles. –Bernama-Xinhua
