Norwegian auto market on a positive trend in 2024. Sales in October bounced back and reached 11,336 (+28.10%). YTD figures stood at 101,973 (-1.26%). MG grew 70.44% in year-on-year volume, climbing 2 spots into 10th.
Market Trend and Outlook
Norway’s mainland GDP is forecasted to grow by 0.5% in 2024, accelerating to 1.6% in 2025, driven by strengthening domestic demand. High inflation and monetary tightening have dampened activity, with most non-oil sectors stagnating and a significant decline in construction, although oil and gas extraction remains strong. Despite a tight labor market and significant wage increases, inflation outpaced wage growth in 2023, slowing economic growth to 0.7%. Rising unit labor costs, partly due to weak productivity growth, have sustained cost pressures.
Despite the current unfavorable economic outlook, a modest recovery is expected in the coming years, with inflation projected to gradually moderate and real wages anticipated to rise, boosting private consumption and investments. Additionally, as growth in trading partners recovers, non-oil exports are expected to gain momentum.
The Norwegian auto market bounced back from a negative string and in October 2024 registrations reached 11,336, up 28.10% compared to the prior year. YTD figures at 101,973 were down 1.26%.
Looking at cumulative data up to October brand-wise, Tesla secured leadership with 18,998 total sales (-13.46%) in front of Toyota with 11,532 units sold (-4.84%) and Volkswagen in 3rd with 10,513 car registrations (-13.14%).
Volvo ranked 4th with 8,993 sales (+29.99%) followed by BMW -up 1 spot- at 5,294 (+5.67%), Skoda -down 1 spot- at 5,132 (-20.98%), and Hyundai with 4,964 registrations (-15.76%).
Nissan ranked in 8th with 4,623 sales (-9.06%), in front of Audi with 4,388 units sold (+7.18%), and MG -up 2 spots- closing the top 10 with 4,387 total sales (+70.44%).
Looking at specific models the Tesla Model Y remained on top of the rankings despite decreasing 33.58% in year-on-year sales volume, followed by the Volvo EX30 and the Volkswagen ID.4.
Medium-Term Market Trend
The auto market in Norway from 2010 to the start of 2013 maintained a general uptrend, taking sales from 154,158 in 2010 to 165,910 by the end of 2012. In 2013 at 167,013 sales the car market started a 5 year growth, reaching higher all-time highs 3 years in a row. 2018 and 2019 were losing years for the Norwegian market that fell respectively 21.5% and 7.1% culminating 2019 at 142,429.
The arrival of the pandemic didn’t effect sales in Norway that had the best performing market in Europe, falling only 0.2% to 141,467 sales.
The year of 2021 brought a boom in the market, that grew back up to 176,199 sales, but the momentum came to a halt in following year with sales falling 2.3% to 200,840 by the end of 2022. A combination of factors are behind the current industry struggle: the disruption in the global supply chain caused by a lack of raw materials, in particular for the production of microchips and Governments push towards Evs (by 2025 all cars and light vehicles in Norway must me zero-emission vehicles).
The Norwegian auto market in 2023 fell for the second year in a row. closing with 152,374 cumulative sales (-24.3%).
Tables with sales figures
In the tables below we report sales for all Brands, top 10 Manufacturers Group and Top 10 models.
