Norwegian Auto Market showed flat growth in 2024 with a 0.4% increase to 125,330 units, falling short of the 2021-22 peak but signaling future potential for gains. Volvo stood out as a top-performer in the EV segment, which accounted for 73.3% of full-year sales.
Market Trend and Outlook
Norway’s economy is continuing its transition away from reliance on petroleum, with mainland GDP projected to grow by 0.9% in 2024 and 1.8% in 2025, driven increasingly by private sector activity. Inflation, which fell sharply in 2024 to 2.6% by October, is expected to decline more gradually due to currency depreciation and cost pressures. Real wage growth has turned positive, boosting household consumption, while interest rate declines are anticipated to support non-oil investments. Petroleum activity, though buoyant recently, is expected to weaken gradually, further emphasizing the importance of diversified growth.
Fiscal policy will remain expansionary in 2025, with increased defence spending and targeted tax cuts for low-income households. However, the reliance on the government’s oil fund raises concerns about medium-term fiscal prudence. Labour shortages, particularly in high-tech and healthcare sectors, remain acute, exacerbated by digital and green transitions and population ageing. Strengthening vocational training, education reforms, and targeted policies to reduce labour market mismatches are essential to alleviate wage pressures, as well as enhance productivity, and support stability in the long-term.
In 2024, Norway reaffirmed its position as a world-leader in the spread of electric mobility, with EVs making up 73.3% of total car sales. While absolute sales figures dropped compared to 2022-23 due to the removal of certain tax exemptions, EV share continued to rise steadily.
Tesla remained the top EV brand despite a 4.5% drop in year-on-year volume. Volvo saw the strongest growth, up 558.9%, climbing 8 spots, while MG and BYD also showed strong performances in 8th and 10th place. Meanwhile, Skoda fell out of the top rankings with a 16.8% decline.
The Norwegian auto market experienced limited growth in 2024, with total sales reaching 125,330 units (+0.4%). However, forecasts for 2025 point to a recovery, reflected in the positive year-on-year growth seen in the final months of 2024, including a 13.6% increase in December sales.
Looking at cumulative data up to December brand-wise, Tesla secured leadership with 24,259 total sales (-4.5%) in front of Volkswagen -up 1 spot- with 14,000 units sold (+2.2%) and Toyota -down 1 spot- in 3rd with 13,674 car registrations (-13.2%).
Volvo ranked 4th with 11,118 sales (+25.2%) followed by BMW -up 1 spot- at 6,952 (+16.6%), Skoda -down 1 spot- at 6,574 (-15%), and Hyundai with 5,782 registrations (+5.5%).
Audi -up 2 spots- ranked in 8th with 5,501 sales (+18%), in front of Nissan -down 1 spot- with 5,484 units sold (+5.8%), and MG -up 2 spots- closing the top 10 with 4,591 total sales (+38.4%).
Looking at specific models the Tesla Model Y remained on top of the rankings despite decreasing 27% in year-on-year sales volume, followed by the Tesla Model 3 and the Volvo EX30.
Medium-Term Market Trend
The auto market in Norway from 2010 to the start of 2013 maintained a general uptrend, taking sales from 154,158 in 2010 to 165,910 by the end of 2012. In 2013 at 167,013 sales the car market started a 5 year growth, reaching higher all-time highs 3 years in a row. 2018 and 2019 were losing years for the Norwegian market that fell respectively 21.5% and 7.1% culminating 2019 at 142,429.
The arrival of the pandemic didn’t effect sales in Norway that had the best performing market in Europe, falling only 0.2% to 141,467 sales.
The year of 2021 brought a boom in the market, that grew back up to 176,199 sales, but the momentum came to a halt in following year with sales falling 2.3% to 200,840 by the end of 2022. A combination of factors are behind the current industry struggle: the disruption in the global supply chain caused by a lack of raw materials, in particular for the production of microchips and Governments push towards Evs (by 2025 all cars and light vehicles in Norway must me zero-emission vehicles).
The Norwegian auto market in 2023 fell for the second year in a row. closing with 152,374 cumulative sales (-24.3%).
Tables with sales figures
In the tables below we report sales for all Brands, top 10 Manufacturers Group and Top 10 models.
