Norway April 2020: Mercedes (+140%), Audi (+69.3%), Porsche (+262.8%) defy smallest market drop in Europe (-34%)

The Mercedes EQC shoots up to a record 5th place in Norway in April.

15/05 update: Now with Top 40 All-brands and Top 190 All-models.

After a two-week lockdown imposed on March 16, Norway declared the coronavirus pandemic “under control” on April 6. Total cases have gone from 4.447 as of March 31 to 7.710 as of April 30 and 8.102 at the time of writing. As a result new car sales showcase the best hold in the entire European continent in April at -34% to 7.425, leading to a year-to-date volume down -20% to 39.783. Private sales amount to 48% vs. 55.3% in April 2019. Diesel sales are off -57.4% to 11.9% share s. 18.4% a year ago while petrol sales drop -65.7% to 10.6% share vs. 20.4%. In contrast, electrified vehicles are down just -16.5% to 5.755 units and 77.5% share vs. 61.2% in April 2019, but down from 82.2% in March, 79.2% in February and 78.5% in January. These include 3.671 EVs (17.7%) at 49.4% share vs. 39.6% a year ago, 1.497 PHEVs (+31.2%) at 20.2% share vs. 10.1% and 587 traditional hybrids (-54.4%) at 7.9% share vs. 11.4%.

In the brands ranking, Volkswagen (-40.1%) returns to the top spot for the second time in the past 3 months, and snatches the YTD leadership away from sister brand Audi (+69.3%) for just two sales. Both brands add up to 28% of the Norwegian market in April and 24.8% YTD. Mercedes (+140%) surges 6 spots on last month to land on the third step of the podium, distancing BMW (-33.6%), Toyota (-45.7%) and Skoda (-17.3%). Peugeot (-16.4%) and Nissan (-23.3%) also lose less ground than the market in the remainder of the Top 10, but Volvo (-57.4%) and Hyundai (-50.4%) aren’t that lucky. Seat (+1866.7%), Porsche (+262.8%) and Mini (+47.6%) swim upstream this month with spectacular gains while newcomer MG is down 4 spots on March to #20.

The Audi e-Tron (+124.3%) easily remains the best-selling vehicle in Norway for the 4th straight month with 11.2% share, distancing the VW Golf (-49.4%), Nissan Leaf (-9.6%) and Hyundai Kona (-16.3%). The Mercedes EQC shoots up 14 spots on last month to land at a record 5th place with 3.3% share, almost breaking into the YTD Top 20 as a result. The Skoda Citigo (+833.3%), Kia Soul (+441.7%), Ford Kuga (+419%), Peugeot 208 (+296.9%), BMW X3 (+191.9%), VW Up (+36%) and VW Passat (+12.3%) also post spectacular gains further down, while the Porsche Taycan is up 20 ranks on March to land at a record #15, a world best.

Previous month: Norway March 2020: e-Tron lifts Audi to first brands crown, electrified sales up to record 82.2% in market down -32.2%

One year ago: Norway April 2019: Tesla Model 3 falls back to #2, Audi e-Tron, Jaguar i-Pace in Top 6 in market down -19.9%

Full April 2020 Top 40 All-brands and Top 190 All-models below.