BYD, Xpeng, Nio, Maxxus, Voyah and Hongqi. These were completely new names that Norwegian car buyers had to deal with when they appeared on the Norwegian market beyond 2021. Everyone wanted to take a solid part of the Norwegian electric car market, which overnight had become one of the world’s largest.
From before, MG and Polestar (produced in China, but with all technology from Volvo) already had a couple of years of good sales figures behind them in Norway.
Immediate success
And Norwegian car buyers bought Chinese cars in large numbers. In 2022, almost 17,000 Norwegians bought one of these Chinese cars. Polestar sold the best with 4,697 cars, followed by MG with 4,241, BYD with 2,655, Hongqi with 2,086 and Nio with 1,135. Most probably hoped for even better sales in 2023.
The electric cars are tipping the scales
But it didn’t work out that way. Now, it is true that last year was difficult for the vast majority of brands, with a drop in new car sales of 27 percent and 47,000 fewer sold than in 2022. Tesla and Toyota, who seized the first two places in the sales statistics in 2023, were one of the few that experienced a significant increase in sales.
CHOOSING THE SAFE: – In times when people have strained finances, people choose the brands they already know, says director Øyvind Solberg Thorsen of the Road Traffic Information Council. Photo: OFV Show more
Black year
For the Chinese brands, it was a completely black year. Most experienced a halving of sales or more. It fared worst for Hongqi, which only sold 11 cars last year, compared to over 2,000 the year before. Polestar dropped from 4,697 to 1,832 sales. BYD, which in the third quarter of 2023 sold more electric cars in the world than Tesla, halved its sales in Norway. Only Xpeng managed to capture a few more customers than the previous year, thanks to the new large SUV G9. You can see the dramatic decline in sales to the brands in the table below.
The 10 coolest electric cars in 2024
Øyvind Solberg Thorsen is director of the Road Traffic Information Council (OFV), which produces the registration statistics. He has an explanation for the sharp decline in the new brands and models:
Buy well-known brands
– We see that most people choose car brands they have a relationship with before when economic times get tougher. Many newcomers therefore struggle to get a hold of customers, says Thorsen.
MANY NEW MODELS: Despite a difficult year last year, the importer of Chinese cars is optimistic for 2024. They are coming with new, exciting models such as BYD Seal (th) and Nio ET 7, with prices that should suit Norwegian car buyers very well. Photo: Rune Korsvoll Show more
– But big changes can happen here, because there will be a number of smaller electric car models in the future. Several of these come from new car manufacturers. The new, small electric cars will probably also have a favorable price level that can make them popular for many. It will be exciting to see how this plays out in 2024, says the OFV director.
Very optimistic
Sales manager at BYD, Simen Wøien Christensen, admits that 2023 was a tough year:
Don’t fall into the kilometer trap
– The first half of 2023 was tough. With the new weight tax, large, electric SUVs were no longer so easy to sell. In the second half of the year, we took action, among other things by launching a new leasing concept where customers did not have to pay a deposit and only pay a fixed sum per month. It had a very positive effect on sales, says Wøien Christensen to Dinside.
He is very optimistic about sales in 2024.
– We are bringing several new models this year, with prices that we believe will suit Norwegian buyers very well. First up is the BYD Dolpin, which will be a competitor to the VW ID.3. A little later comes Seal, which will be a competitor to the Tesla Model 3, says Wøien Christensen.
THIS IS HOW IT WENT WITH SALES IN 2023
PlaceBrand20232022Change % 1.Tesla25 40821 300+ 19.3 2.Toyota15 75413 873+ 13.6 3.VW13 70420 183- 32.1 12.MG3 3174 241- 21.8 16.Polestar1 8324 697- 61.0 18.BYD1 3832 655- 47.9 22.Xpeng777703+ 10.5 23.Nio6211 135- 45.3 30.Maxxus326976- 66.6 40.Voyah58396- 85.4 49.Hongqi112 086- 99.5
Source: The Road Traffic Information Council. The three most sold, plus Chinese cars that had full sales years in 2022 and 2023. Ranking by sales in 2023.
2024-01-09 23:03:35
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