Almost 60 percent of all new vehicles sold in Norway last month were fully electric, the Norwegian Road Federation said yesterday, a global record set by a country seeking to end sales of fossil-fueled vehicles by 2025.
Exempting battery engines from taxes imposed on diesel and gasoline vehicles has upended Norway’s auto market, elevating brands like Tesla Inc and Nissan Motor Co, with its Leaf model, while hurting sales of Toyota Motor Corp, Daimler AG and others.
Last year, Norway’s fully electric vehicle (EV) sales rose to a record 31.2 percent market share from 20.8 percent in 2017, far ahead of any other nation, and buyers had to wait as producers struggled to keep up with demand.
The surge of electrics to a 58.4 percent market share last month came as Tesla ramped up delivery of its mid-sized Model 3 sedan, which retails from 442,000 crowns (US$51,400), while Audi AG began deliveries of its 652,000-crowns e-tron sports utility vehicle.
The Model 3 has been racking up strong sales everywhere it lands. It became the fifth best-selling sedan in the US — outsold only by Toyotas and Hondas — for the second half of last year.
In Norway — which publishes registration data in real time — last month’s sales easily topped the country’s all-time record for most vehicles sold in a single month.
This week, Tesla is to announce how many cars it built and sold for the quarter.
It is always a day of suspense for investors, especially after a tumultuous last year, in which production tripled while still falling short of dramatic targets set by Tesla chief executive officer Elon Musk.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
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