Electric car sales jumped to a record 54% of new car sales in Norway last year, but Tesla’s Model 3 lost its place as the best-selling vehicle in the country despite a slow rise.
This is the first time a country has recorded more sales of electric cars than those with petrol, diesel and hybrid engines over a whole year.
The Norwegian government plans to ban the sale of petrol and diesel cars by 2025, and has used incentives and tax breaks in recent years to encourage the rise of electric cars.
Electric battery vehicles (BEVs) accounted for 54.3% of new passenger car sales in 2020, up from 42% in 2019, according to figures released by the Norwegian Road Federation (OFV) on Tuesday.
December was a positive month for car sales in the Scandinavian country – the best on record – with more than 20,000 new vehicles registered. Of these, 66.7% were electric vehicles and 4,232 were Tesla Model 3s – more than 20% of car sales in the month.
Read: Tesla is getting a big boost on plans for the first European factory
However, Tesla’s TSLA,
popular midsize model – Norway’s best-selling car in 2019 – fell to second place in 2020, losing out to Volkswagen’s VOW,
Audi e-tron with Volkswagen ID.3 in third place.
After a year higher than Tesla in Norway in 2019, the U.S. company had stronger competition in 2020 as its competitors launched several electric cars, while COVID-19 pandemic impact on sales.
Something came back in December, with Tesla selling 4,232 cars – 54% of the total of 7,770. The company also plans to launch its Model Y electric SUV in Norway later this year, Reuters reported.