BYD, Xpeng, Nio, Maxxus, Voyah and Hongqi. They were completely new names that Norwegian car buyers had to deal with when they appeared on the Norwegian market after 2021. Everyone wanted to take a solid share of the Norwegian electric car market, which had overnight become one of the largest in the world.
Previously, MG and Polestar (made in China, but with all Volvo technology) already had a couple of years of good sales figures in Norway behind them.
Immediate success
And Norwegian car buyers bought Chinese cars in large numbers. As of 2022, nearly 17,000 Norwegians have purchased one of these Chinese cars. Polestar sold the best cars with 4,697, followed by MG with 4,241, BYD with 2,655, Hongqi with 2,086 and Nio with 1,135. He was most likely hoping for even better sales in 2023.
Electric cars are tipping the scales
But it didn’t happen that way. Now, it’s true that last year was difficult for the vast majority of brands, with new car sales falling 27% and 47,000 fewer units sold than in 2022. Tesla and Toyota, which took the top two placed in the sales statistics in 2023, they were one of the few that recorded a significant increase in sales.
CHOOSING THE SAFE: – In times when people have strained finances, people choose brands they already know, says director Øyvind Solberg Thorsen of the Road Traffic Information Council. Photo: OFV Show more
Black year
For Chinese brands it was a completely black year. Most have seen sales halved or more. It was worse for Hongqi, which sold just 11 cars last year, compared to more than 2,000 the previous year. Polestar dropped from 4,697 to 1,832 sales. BYD, which sold more electric cars globally than Tesla in the third quarter of 2023, halved its sales in Norway. Only Xpeng managed to win over a few more customers than the previous year, thanks to the new large G9 SUV. You can see the dramatic drop in sales to brands in the table below.
The 10 most beautiful electric cars of 2024
Øyvind Solberg Thorsen is director of the Council for Road Traffic Information (OFV), which produces registration statistics. He has an explanation for the sharp decline in new brands and models:
Buy well-known brands
– We see that most people choose automotive brands they have had a relationship with before when economic times get tougher. Many newcomers therefore have difficulty gaining customers, says Thorsen.
LOTS OF NEW MODELS: Despite a difficult year last year, the Chinese car importer is optimistic for 2024. They are coming with new and exciting models such as the BYD Seal (th) and Nio ET 7, with prices that should suit buyers very much of Norwegian cars GOOD. Photo: Rune Korsvoll Show more
– But big changes can occur here, because in the future there will be numerous smaller electric car models. Many of these come from new automakers. The new small electric cars will likely also have a favorable price level that will make them popular with many. It will be exciting to see how this plays out in 2024, says the OFV director.
Very optimistic
BYD Sales Director Simen Wøien Christensen admits that 2023 was a difficult year:
Don’t fall into the kilometer trap
– The first half of 2023 was tough. With the new weight tax, large electric SUVs were no longer so easy to sell. In the second half of the year we took action, among other things by launching a new leasing concept in which customers did not have to pay any down payment but only paid a fixed sum per month. This has had a very positive effect on sales, says Wøien Christensen at Dinside.
He is very optimistic about sales in 2024.
– This year we will introduce several new models, with prices that we believe will suit Norwegian buyers very well. The first is the BYD Dolpin, which will be a competitor to the VW ID.3. Soon after comes Seal, which will be a competitor to the Tesla Model 3, says Wøien Christensen.
HERE’S HOW SALES WENT IN 2023
LocationBrand20232022% change 1.Tesla25 40821 300+ 19.3 2.Toyota15 75413 873+ 13.6 3.VW13 70420 183- 32.1 12.MG3 3174 241- 21.8 16.Polestar1 8324 69 7- 61.0 18.BYD1 3832 655- 47.9 22.Xpeng777703+ 10.5 23. Nio6211 135- 45.3 30.Maxxus326976- 66.6 40.Voyah58396- 85.4 49.Hongqi112 086- 99.5
Source: Road Traffic Information Council. The three best-selling cars, plus Chinese cars that had full sales years in 2022 and 2023. Ranked by sales in 2023.
2024-01-09 23:03:35
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