Electric vehicle sales figures for March 2016 in Norway recently became available, confirming much of what was expected. Sales rose to total 4,684 units during the month — representing a roughly 24% year-on-year increase in sales for the market.
The share of the country’s total automotive market held by electric vehicles also rose — to take a roughly 30% share of the total market. Much of the growth was unfortunately (in my opinion) driven by an increase in plug-in hybrid (PHEV) sales rather than all-electric (EV) sales — with an increase in market share up to 12% (up from 5% last year).
All of that said, the sales rankings for the month were in some ways surprising — Tesla Model S sales saw quite a drop (presumably because there were many that chose the Model X instead and are still waiting on delivery), and the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV surged to 686 units sold for the month, thereby taking the top spot.
The Nissan LEAF also managed to take second place, with 676 units sold — notable considering the performance of the past few months. VW sales also saw some changes, with the e-Golf falling to third place (with 540) and almost being surpassed for the first time by the Golf GTE (with 526 units).
BMW i3 sales seem to be experiencing a slow decline in the market — falling all the way down to only 213 units during the month (174 all-electrics and 39 range-extended versions).
Interestingly, quite a number of EVs and PHEVs managed to ranked quite well in the country’s overall auto-market sales rankings as well. The EV Sales blog has more on that:
If we split models by fuel source, the Outlander PHEV was the best selling model in March, followed by the Nissan Leaf and VW e-Golf, with the Golf GTE closing a 100% Plug-In Top 4 in the overall ranking. But this is not all, after the #5 Toyota Auris, we have the Tesla Model S in #6, and a bit lower, the Renault Zoe in #9, making 6 plug-ins in the Top 10! Sooner than later, i will have to make an overall Top 10 ranking to follow all these EV’s…
It’ll be interesting to see what Tesla’s sales/deliveries in the country look like once Model X deliveries in the region begin in earnest. Is the sales aberration seen in March simply due to the delivery lag for the Model X? Or saturation? Or curiosity about the Model 3 unveiling, for that matter?