Norway June 2015: Renault Zoe takes off to 4th place overall

Renault Zoe

* See the Top 35 All-brands and Top 100 models by clicking on the title *

After displaying lukewarm results up to now this year, Norwegian new car sales surge 24% year-on-year in June to 14.207 registrations, the best June score in 20 years – since the 16.064 hit in 1986! This is enough to single-handedly bring the year-to-date total into positive territory at 74.392 units halfway through the year, up 3% on 2014. Volkswagen continues its one-man show with sales up a gargantuan 54% to 17.6% share above Toyota (+8%), Volvo (+29%), BMW (+32%) and Nissan (+18%) while Ford drops 17% at #6. Notice also Mitsubishi up 60%, Mercedes up 37%, Renault up 313% and Subaru up 115%.

The Tesla Model S is still going strong in Norway: #2 in June and year-to-date.

The models ranking once again shows clearly how significant subsidies towards electric and PHEV cars can reshuffle an entire market. The VW Golf more than doubles its sales year-on-year to 1.626 units and a giant 11.4% market share, 68% of its sales going to the electric and PHEV variant, the Tesla Model S lodges another outstanding month in 2nd place with 566 units sold for a world-best 4% market share and the Mitsubishi Outlander is up to third place overall with 487 sales and 3.4% share, boosted by its PHEV variant accounting for a whopping 86% of its total.

The Volvo XC90 is more popular in Norway than at home in Sweden.

But the biggest surprise this month in Norway is the coming of age of the Renault Zoe, up a fantastic 30 spots on May to land at a record-breaking 4th place overall with 431 units and 3% share. The Zoe even led the market overall during the last week of June with 10.8% share above the VW Golf at 5.2%! The French manufacturer will look at this performance with a warm heart as the Zoe has failed to impress so far at home. Other great gainers in the Norwegian June Top 20 include the Nissan Qashqai (+48%), Audi A3 (+49%), Volvo V70 (+50%), VW Passat (+58%), Toyota Avensis (+88%), Ford Mondeo (+140%) and Mercedes B-Class (+740%). The new generation Volvo XC90 shoots up to #14 and 1.9% (vs. #26 and 1% at home in Sweden) while the Mazda CX-3 is up 16 spots to #57.

Previous month: Norway May 2015: PHEV tax cut pushes Mitsubishi Outlander up to #2

One year ago: Norway June 2014: Tesla Model S back to 2nd place

Full June 2015 Top 35 All-brands and Top 100 models below.