Norway car market in 2015 hit the new all time record sales, first time over the 150.000 annual units. The record follow the two established in the previous years after the de-taxation of electric vehicles.
Economic Outlook
Although Q3 national accounts data released last month surprised on the upside, the economy may have little left in terms of such surprises, as effects stemming from the collapse in oil sector related investment begins to spread throughout the real economy. Offshore investment in Norway has reportedly fallen 18.0% annually in Q3, and investment in other extraction related sectors has fallen 11.8%.
As a result, unemployment has risen and growth has slowed. The krone has also fallen steadily over the course of the year. Recent U.S. crude inventory data released in December has pushed oil prices to historically low levels towards the end of 2015. Such developments decrease the likelihood of any recovery in oil prices and indicate that Norway may need to begin rebalancing its economy in the near future.
Market Outlook
Despite a slow start of the year and thanks to a good performance scored in the Q4 when sales improved 6%, the market scored a new record this year, the third in a row following the 2012 de-taxation of electric vehicles.
Indeed, according to data released by the Opplysningsrådet for Veitrafikken AS, the Norwegian Road Federation, in the fourth quarter 2015 car passenger’s sales had been up 6.0% ending in December with 13.078 units (+3.1%). The total 2015 figure was for the first time over the 150.000 units at 150.686 (+4.5%).
The podium was unchanged from the previous year with Volkswagen on top with 26.334 sales (+21.6%) and 17.5% of market share, followed by Toyota with 16.016 (+0.1%), Volvo with 9.978 (-11.9%), BMW with 9.567 (-0.4%), Ford, up 1 spot, with 8.462 (+8.2%) and Nissan with 8.317 (-9.5%).
At group wise, Volkswagen Group led with 27.1% of market share ahead of Toyota with 11.3% and Renault-Nissan with 7.4%.
Tables with sales figures
In the tables below we report sales for all Brands and top 10 Models.
