The Green Shift in Norwegian transportation and a successful year for the Škoda brand in 2017
20.12.2017 / 15:04 | Aktualizováno: 20.12.2017 / 15:11
(This article expired 01.07.2018 / 02:00.)
Car sales statistics for 2017 confirm that the government-promoted Green Shift in the Norwegian transportation sector has set solid foot. Sales of electric and hybrid cars broke all records. A partial explanation is the new rise of tolls on roads in the Oslo metropolitan area in the autumn of 2017. This rise is particularly unfavourable to diesel cars. On the other end, the EFTA Surveillance Authority approved in mid-December 2017 the continuation of the Norwegian zero VAT rate on electric cars until 2020 when a review of the exemption will be due.
The most sold brands in Norway are Volkswagen, Toyota and BMW. Škoda keeps steady on the sixth place among 43 brands available. This is the same position as in 2016. Škoda holds a 5.8 % share in the new car market.
In 2017, for the period ending December 17, a total of 8,651 Škoda cars were sold. Škoda was the only brand that increased the share of diesel models. They represented 39.2 % of all Škoda cars sold. This is a significant result; bearing in mind that Škoda is the only producer in the Top 10 list that does not offer any zero-emission model yet. Møller Bil, the exclusive dealer of Škoda cars in Norway, acted on the continuing growth of sales and opened several new showrooms during 2017.
In the period January through mid-December 2017, a total of 150,014 new motor vehicles were registered in Norway. Within the passenger car segment, 37,100 cars have petrol engines, 34,900 cars have diesel engines (a one-fifth decrease year-on-year), and 53,000 cars were either electric or hybrid. Further 43 cars were hydrogen-powered. Tesla recorded the fastest growth in sales in Norway: 7,351 sold cars, most frequently the new Model X, mean an increase of 139 %.
In the truck segment (6,096 units registered, +6.0 % year-on-year), Volvo, Scania and Mercedes-Benz had highest sales. In the bus segment (1,145 units registered, -14.4 % year-on-year), Mercedes-Benz was the leading brand. The freight road transportation in Norway has a long way to go in order to become emission-free: 95.7 % of all cargo vehicles sold in 2017 had diesel engines. Ruter, the public transport authority for Oslo and Akershus counties, announced in November 2017 the purchase of the first two battery-powered buses made by the Chinese manufacturer BYD. They will be operated by Nobina. The outlook for 2025 sees a total of 1,100 battery-powered bused in Oslo public transit.