Electric Car Sales = 28% Of All Car Sales In Norway (First 7 Months Of 2016)

Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!

Update: There were discrepancies in data sources and we corrected the article to indicate a different EV market share (for July & for the year through July).

Originally published on EV Obsession.

Estimates for electric vehicle sales in Norway during the month of July 2016 were recently released by our friend over at the EV Sales blog, Jose Pontes.

New Tesla Model SOverall, the new sales figure estimates show pretty good growth — with 2,998 electric vehicles sold in total, making for a ~17% year-on-year growth rate. “Electric vehicles” in this case refers to any plug-in cars — all-electric cars (EVs) as well as plug-in hybrid cars (PHEVs). (These numbers do not include electric bikes.)

That said, EV sales are actually down somewhat (-38%), while PHEV sales are up notably (+140%). So, while overall growth is strong, it appears that some potential buyers are now holding out on the purchase of an EV — presumably owing to the improved offerings that will appear on the market later this year (longer-range Nissan LEAF & BMW i3) and into 2017 (Chevy Bolt & Tesla Model 3).

The overall plug-in car market made up 27% of new car registrations in Norway in July, and 28% for the year through July.

→ Related: Norway EV & PHEV Driver Findings, Galore!

Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV black 7As far as individual model sales, the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV is still selling well despite the recent Mitsubishi fuel-economy scandal — with 504 units registered during the month.

Following fairly closely behind was the Volkswagen Golf GTE, with 412 units registered during the month in Norway. Then, in 3rd, was the Volkswagen Passat GTE (294 units), but you can see how close the models are from there on: In 4th was the Volkswagen e-Golf with 279 units sold; and in 5th the Nissan LEAF with 237.

2015 vw e-golf limited editionVolkswagen is, of course, also still dealing with the aftermath of its own diesel emissions cheating scandal. Interesting that the top four spots are held by companies facing “PR” trouble. I guess that the Norwegians don’t mind the deceptions?

Notably, July 2016 was the first time that the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV managed to nab the top spot in the mixed rankings (including petrol and diesel vehicles) — displacing the Volkswagen Golf GTE. So, perhaps some Norwegians are taking note of the Volkswagen scandal?

Also notable is that the Tesla Model S had its worst month in more than 1½ years. It’s worst in 20 months, to be exact, with only 43 units registered, but it’s hard to know if that relates to Tesla production, Tesla deliveries, or demand. It’ll be interesting to see what Model X registrations look like later this year once deliveries pick up — that should tell us a lot about Tesla’s immediate future in the country. Of course, the Model 3 launch there in ~2 years will tell us far, far more….

Norway EV Sales 2016 -- July 2016

Photos by Kyle Field | CleanTechnica (CC BY-SA 4.0), via CleanTechnica.picsZachary Shahan | EV Obsession | CleanTechnica (CC BY-SA 4.0), via CleanTechnica.pics; and Volkswagen


Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Want to advertise? Want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.

Latest CleanTechnica TV Video


Advertisement
 
CleanTechnica uses affiliate links. See our policy here.

James Ayre

James Ayre's background is predominantly in geopolitics and history, but he has an obsessive interest in pretty much everything. After an early life spent in the Imperial Free City of Dortmund, James followed the river Ruhr to Cofbuokheim, where he attended the University of Astnide. And where he also briefly considered entering the coal mining business. He currently writes for a living, on a broad variety of subjects, ranging from science, to politics, to military history, to renewable energy.

James Ayre has 4830 posts and counting. See all posts by James Ayre