Only seven petrol cars sold in Norway in January as EVs dominate sales

Just seven new petrol-powered cars were sold in Norway last month, according to official data, underlining the country's rapid shift away from fossil-fuel vehicles, reports The Guardian.

Figures from the Norwegian Road Traffic Information Council (OFV) show that registrations of new fossil-fuel cars fell to a record low in January.

Alongside the seven petrol cars, only 29 hybrids and 98 diesel vehicles were registered, while more than 2,000 battery electric vehicles (BEVs) were sold.

Overall car sales were subdued, largely because many buyers rushed to make purchases in December to avoid tax increases that took effect in January, according to The Guardian. Even so, the collapse in petrol car sales highlights how close Norway is to phasing out internal combustion engines that contribute to climate change and extreme weather.

"The January figures do not mean demand has disappeared, but reflect the extraordinary surge in purchases before the new year," said OFV director Geir Inge Stokke. "We expect registrations to rise again as the market normalises."

BEVs accounted for 95.9% of all new-car sales in Norway last year. Analysts attribute the country's electric vehicle boom to high carbon taxes, strong incentives for EV buyers and the absence of a powerful lobby resisting the transition.

Christina Bu, secretary general of the Norwegian Electric Vehicle Association, said the early 2025 figures should not be read as the end of the journey.
"Two out of three people still drive fossil-fuel cars," she told public broadcaster NRK. "If they are to have real choices, we must be just as ambitious in 2026."

The transition is also becoming evident in Norway's used-car market. Sales of secondhand electric vehicles rose 22.7% year on year in January, with EVs now accounting for one in four used cars sold, OFV data shows.

"Electrification is clearly gaining ground in the used-car market as well," Stokke said. "That makes electric cars accessible to far more buyers than before."

While Norway remains the global leader in EV adoption, other countries are catching up. Denmark has seen BEV market share jump from 2% to 68% over the past decade, while electric vehicles now account for more than a third of new-car sales in the Netherlands, Finland, Belgium and Sweden.