With Norway driving the change to end the sale of petrol and diesel engines by 2025, they’re certainly in the fast lane, as proven by their September 2021 new car sales.
With 77.5 per cent of new cars being EV’s, they’ve increased from their 61.5 per cent from a year ago.
Navigating the change is led by demand for Tesla’s, with the Model Y accounting for 19.8 per cent of the car market followed by the Model 3 at 12.3 per cent. The next closest manufacturer in September was Skoda’s Enyaq at 4.4 per cent.
The catalyst for the surge? Exempting fully electric vehicles from taxes that are levied on ICE vehicles. Is it working? Yep – In 2020 EVs outsold all other types of vehicles.
A bump in the road could occur if the new national government imposes a new luxury tax of 25% via a VAT (Value Added Tax) on new cars priced above 600,000 Norwegian crowns ($87,900)
If it happens, the Model Y and 3 are clear but the Model S and X, priced at nearly double the tax threshold, would be affected.
Yes, this proposed tax would be financially beneficial to the country but the drawback is by limiting EV incentives, a reduction in demand will likely follow.
Norway’s new government should look at Ontario’s mid-2018 decision to remove EV incentives and the unsurprising plummeting sales figures that followed.
