EVs At 98.4% Share In Norway

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October saw plugin EVs at 98.4% share in Norway, up from 95.6% year on year. BEVs alone took 97.4% share. Overall auto volume was 11,138 units, down some 4% YoY. The Tesla Model Y was the best-selling passenger car.

October’s sales totals saw combined EVs take 98.4% share in Norway, comprising 97.4% full electrics (BEVs) and 1.0% plugin hybrids (PHEVs). These compare with YoY figures of 95.6% combined, 94.0% BEV and 1.5% PHEV.

The slight YoY dip in overall auto volume is within normal seasonal variation, and the dip in BEV share from September is also normal in a non-Tesla-push month.

Diesel share (1.1%) led the residual powertrains (higher than PHEVs’ 1.0%) and was at its highest level since May. In short, diesel sales are still holding on, and will do so until BEVs can cover all niches at all price points, with diesel-like “reputation” (whether real or mythical) for dependability in the eyes of the remaining buyers.

In practice this will mean more energy dense batteries, and more ubiquitous and reliable charging infrastructure. The last one or two percent of a market is often hard to displace in technology transitions, and is nothing to be overly concerned about.

Tighter VAT exemption rules will come into effect in January 2026, with the VAT-free ceiling lowered from NOK 500,000 to NOK 300,000. We can therefore expect mid-priced and higher-priced models to see a pull forward in sales in November and December, ahead of their effective price increase.

In 2026, conversely, the sub-NOK-300,000 segments will be more attractive, as everything higher will be relatively more expensive. However, the first few months will likely see a hangover in BEVs overall.

Best-Selling Models

In October the Tesla Model Y was once again the best-selling passenger vehicle, with 592 units registered. Very close behind were the Volvo EX40, and the Volkswagen ID.7, with 586 and 585 units, respectively.

This was the 8th consecutive month in which the Tesla Model Y took the top spot. In the 2025 year-to-date count, it now has over 3x the volume of its nearest competitor (the VW ID.4).

There were a few notable moves in the rankings. The Xpeng G6 ranked 9th thanks to its best ever volume (332 units) since debuting in the summer of 2024.

The Mazda 6E, which is essentially a rebadged and exported Changan Deepal L07 (a popular car in Asia), also had its best result in 13th place, with 271 units. October was just its second month of volume deliveries, so this is a great early result.

There were no debutant BEV models in October. Aside from the Mazda 6E, there was no spectacular climb from recently launched models.

Let’s turn to the 3 month rankings:

Here we can see just how dominant the Tesla Model Y still is in Norway, with all other models looking insignificant by comparison.

With mostly normal variations in ranking, only the Skoda Elroq stands out as being on a steady growth trajectory. Seeing its first customer volumes in April, it has steadily grown since then, and stood in 18th spot in the prior (May-to-July) period. It has now climbed to an impressive 7th spot, almost doubling its volume over the prior 3 months.

If the Mazda 6E maintains its early trajectory, we could see it enter the top 20 as soon as next month – let’s keep an eye on it.

For the latest fleet transition analysis, see last month’s report.

Outlook

As mentioned above, with tighter VAT rules arriving on January 1st, there will be a pull-forward of mid-priced (and high priced) BEV sales in the next two months. Then we will see a hangover for a few months in early 2026.

Norway’s auto volume (now almost all BEVs) is up around 20% year to date, a good sign for hastening the transition of the passenger vehicle fleet over to BEVs.

Norway’s macroeconomic figures continue to be highly erratic due to the large size of public spending, and the disproportionate influence that fossil-fuel sales (and their variable pricing) have on national accounts. The latest YoY GDP data from Q2 showed a big downward swing to negative 2.1%. This may swing back in the Q3 or Q4 data. Inflation was down to 3.3% (latest data), and interest rates were flat at 4%. Manufacturing PMI fell back to 47.7 points in October, from 49.9 points in September.

What are your thoughts on Norway’s transition? Is it something the rest of the world can copy? Please jump into the comments below to share your perspectives.