Norway February 2021: Volvo top brand for first time in 6 years, Toyota RAV4 repeats at #1, market up 3.3%

The Toyota RAV4 repeats at #1 in Norway in February.

Norway is one of only three European countries to show positive year-on-year sales in February alongside Sweden (+5.3%) and Ireland (+4.9%) at +3.3% to 10.687 units, leading to a year-to-date tally up 5.4% to 20.988. Electrified vehicles hit 87.3% share vs. 88.8% last month and 79.2% in February 2020 which was an all-time record at the time. In the detail, BEVs are down -1.4% to 5.074 and 47.5% share vs. 49.7% a year ago, PHEVs shoot up 76.9% to 3.378 and 31.6% share vs. 18.5% a year ago and HEVs are down -18.8% to 872 and 8.2% share vs. 10.4%. In contrast, petrol vehicles hold a tiny 5.9% share vs. 10.3% in February 2020 and diesel sales are at 6.8% share vs. 11.2% a year ago. Year-to-date, BEVs are up 12.3% to 10.535 and 50.2% share vs. 47.1% over the same period in 2020, PHEVs are up 63.3% to 6.251 and 29.8% share vs. 19.2% and HEVs are off -26.9% to 1.708 and 8.1% share vs. 11.7% meaning electrified vehicles hold a 88.1% share so far this year vs. 78.1% at the same time last year.

Volvo (+141.6%) multiplies its February 2020 volume by 2.5 to become the most popular brand in Norway for the first time in over 6 years: since December 2014. The Swedish carmaker topples Toyota (+48.8%) but the latter holds onto the YTD top spot for 72 sales. Peugeot (+80.7%) also posts a brilliant year-on-year improvement and advances two spots on last month to #3 overall. Strikingly, Mercedes (+14.2%) and BMW (+11.7%) are the only remaining Top 10 brands in positive. All the rest fall by double-digits, none more so than Volkswagen (-64.1%) suffering from a painful hangover from four months of pulled-forward registrations of the ID.3 at the end of 2020 as well as the discontinuation of the e-Golf. Audi (-45.7%), Hyundai (-33.6%), Nissan (-24.2%) and Kia (-21.1%) also dive. Polestar is down 3 spots on January to #11, with Tesla (+315.7%), MG (+207%) and Lexus (+138.4%) scoring surreal gains below.

Model-wise, after topping the Norwegian charts for the very first time last month, the Toyota RAV4 (+263.6%) repeats at #1 thanks to its new PHEV variant. The Volvo XC40 (+607.2%) is up 7-fold thanks to the new Recharge version. Leader a year ago, the Audi e-Tron (-47.2%) drops to #3 this month, followed by the Volvo XC60 (+115.8%) and Peugeot 2008 (+6457.1%) propelled ahead by the e-2008. The Polestar 2 remains at a formidable 6th place with 3.9% share with the Tesla Model 3 (+530.2%) and Kia Niro (+79.9%) also making waves in the remainder of the Top 10. Below the Polestar 2, the most popular recent launches are the VW ID.3 (#23), Mazda MX-30 (#30) and Citroen C4 (#51).

Previous month: Norway January 2021: Toyota RAV4 secures first ever win, electrified vehicles at 88.8% share, market up 7.7%

One year ago: Norway February 2020: Electrified sales hit record 79.2% share, Audi e-Tron holds 11.3% of market down -6.8%

Full February 2021 Top 45 All-brands and Top 185 All-models below.