Norway September 2020: VW ID.3 lands in pole position, Polestar 2 on podium, electrified sales hit record 88.9% share, market up 39.4%

The VW ID.3 holds 12.8% of the Norwegian market in September.

In September the Norwegian new car market looks to put a dreadful 2020 so far in its rear view market, with volumes surging 39.4% year-on-year to 15.552, leading to a year-to-date tally down -13.8% to 95.350. Thanks to a handful of very impactful new launches as we’ll see further down, electrified vehicles hit a mind-boggling 88.9% share vs. 77.3% a year ago, an all-time record for Norway smashing the previous high of 82.2% hit last March, and of course for any country in the world, thanks to sales soaring 60.2% year-on-year to 13.819. In the detail, BEV is up 57.1% to 9.560 and 61.5% share vs. 54.5% in September 2019, PHEV is up 174.7% to 3.129 and 20.1% share vs. 10.2% a year ago and HEV is actually down -19.5% to 1.130 and 7.3% share vs. 12.6%. Year-to-date, electrified passenger car sales tilt into positive thanks to this month’s astounding result, at +1.5% to 76.213 and 79.9% of the market vs. 67.9% over the same period in 2019. BEV is down -2.6% to 48.175 and 50.5% share vs. 44.7% in 2019, PHEV is up 60.5% to 19.357 and 20.3% share vs. 10.9% and HEV tumbles down -36% to 8.681 and 9.1% share vs. 12.3% in 2019 YTD.

The Polestar 2 already climbs onto the Norwegian podium.

Thanks to the extraordinarily successful launch of its new star nameplate (see further down), Volkswagen shoots up 168.5% year-on-year, the largest gain in the Top 9, to reach 17.6% share vs. 13% so far in 2020. Toyota (+26.8%) climbs up two spots on August to #2 and 9.7% share despite trailing the market, while Tesla (-47.9%) rallies back up 9 ranks on last month to #3 thanks to a new shipment but can only muster roughly half of its year-ago volume. Polestar continues to fly up the Norwegian ranking, up 6 on August to #4 and a record 6% share. BMW (+24.2%) and Hyundai (+26.1%) are both up one spot to #5 and #6 respectively. MG is back up 7 spots to break into the Norwegian Top 10 for the first time at #8 with 672 sales and 4.3% share, all new records. Peugeot (+206%) closes the Top 10 with the largest gain in the Top 20, with Jeep (+1800%), Seat (+1580%), DS (+925%), Fiat (+800%), Porsche (+680%), Subaru (+450%), Mercedes (+98.4%), Mazda (+96.9%), Kia (+87.2%), Suzuki (+61.1%) and Renault (+59.7%) also impressive further down.

The MG ZS scores a second Top 5 finish in the past 3 months.

In the models ranking, the VW ID.3 manages an exploit even the Tesla Model 3 couldn’t pull out: ranking #1 in Norway for its first full month in market (one single sale was registered in August) with a gargantuan 12.8% share thanks to 1.989 registrations. The ID.3 has already seemingly killed the VW Golf (-51.1%) down 7 spots to #10 as the e-Golf, a volume engine in this market, is put to rest. The Tesla Model 3 (-52.3%) rallies back up 9 spots on August to #2, hitting its largest share since last March at 7.2%, while the Polestar 2 brilliantly climbs onto the podium with 6% share, the Toyota RAV4 (+85.1%) rides on the launch of its new PHEV variant to #4 and the MG ZS breaks into the Norwegian Top 5 for the second time in the past 3 months with a record 4.3% share. Leader last month and YTD, the Audi e-Tron (+13.9%) free falls to #6 in September, with the Mitsubishi Outlander (+80.2%) the only additional Top 10 model outpacing the market.

Previous month: Norway August 2020: Polestar 2 up to world best #4, Audi e-Tron and Mercedes EQC best-sellers, Electrified vehicles at 79% share, market back down (-10.5%)

One year ago: Norway September 2019: Tesla Model 3 soars to 21% share, eyes VW Beetle’s 50 year-old annual volume record

Full September 2020 Top 54 All-brands and Top 200 All-models below.