Norway February 2018: Nissan Leaf best-seller in market down 13.5%

The Nissan Leaf is the best-selling vehicle in Norway for the first time in over 4 years.

* See the Top 35 All-brands and Top 215 All-models by clicking on the title *

The Norwegian new car market continues to struggle in this start of 2018 with February sales down a steep 13.5% year-on-year to 10.191 units, leading to a YTD total down 21.9% to 19.398. This sharp decline is due to higher taxes from January 1, 2018 that triggered anticipated sales at the end of 2017. Market leader Volkswagen is hit particularly hard this month at -29% to just 12.5% share vs. 13.7% so far in 2018 and 14.6% over the FY2017. Volvo on the other hand ignores the surrounding gloom with a 25% year-on-year surge to 10.9% in second place, and is accompanied in the Top 10 by Nissan up 41% to #5 and Skoda up 26% to #6. In the remainder of the Top 10, only Peugeot (-3%) and BMW (-12%) post declines smaller than the market but Ford (-36%), Mercedes (-31%), Audi (-29%) and Toyota (-19%) freefall. Dacia (+273%), Porsche (+152%), Alfa Romeo (+50%), Mini (+49%), Hyundai (+37%), Land Rover (+37%) and Subaru (+11%) resist well further down.

We witness a rare change atop the Norwegian models ranking this month: thanks to the new generation now in dealerships, the Nissan Leaf leaps up 57 spots on January and 91% year-on-year to snap the pole position with 781 sales and 7.7% share. This is the third time the Leaf nameplate is the best-selling vehicle in Norway after October 2013 and January 2014 but this month’s performance is a new volume and share record, beating the 716 units of October 2013 and 5.7% share of January 2014. Leader for the past 10 years in a row, the VW Golf (+2%, 72% electric) is knocked down to #2 but remains #1 YTD. The Volvo V90 soars 53% to a record third place (80% PHEV), distancing the BMW i3 (-24%), Toyota Yaris (+9%, 99.7% hybrid), RAV4 (-27%, 98% hybrid) and Mitsubishi Outlander (-40%, 96% PHEV). The Hyundai Ioniq (+163%), Volvo XC60 (+143%, 87% PHEV), BMW 2 Series (+52%, 99% PHEV) and Skoda Octavia (+23%) also impress. The VW T-Roc tops all recent launches at #24 (+4) ahead of the Skoda Karoq at #49 (+88) and Volvo XC40 at #59 (+79).

Previous month: Norway January 2018: Zoe pulls Renault up 19% in market down 29.5%

One year ago: Norway February 2017: Volvo V90 breaks into Top 10

Full February 2018 Top 35 All-brands and Top 215 All-models below.