A Tesla car is being charged at a Tesla electric vehicle charging station in Norheimsund, Norway, August 22, 2025.
Sergey Gapon | AFP | Getty Images
A record year for electric vehicle (EV) sales in Norway has brought the country close to effectively eliminating petrol and diesel cars from the new car market.
A total of 95.9% of new cars registered in Norway last year were electric vehicles, according to data released on Friday by the Norwegian Road Traffic Information Council (OFV). In December, 98% of new cars were EVs.
The annual figure increased from 88.9% at the end of 2024.
According to OFV data, a record 179,549 new passenger cars were registered in Norway last year, representing a 40% increase over the previous year and breaking the country’s previous annual record in 2021.
This figure reaffirms the oil-producing country’s position as a world leader in sustainable transport.
“2025 was a very special year for cars, showing the impact of long-term and targeted electric vehicle policies and how concrete tax decisions can have an immediate impact on the market,” Geir Inge Stokke, director of OFV, said in a statement.
“The last spurt to the end of the year has been historically strong and there is no doubt that the VAT changes from 1 January 2026 have contributed to many people choosing to secure a new electric vehicle before the end of the year,” he added.
Norway’s Deputy Transport Minister Cecilie Knieve Kroglund told CNBC last year that long-term, consistent policies aimed at supporting the uptake of EVs, rather than imposing measures banning the use of internal combustion engine vehicles, were critical to the country’s transition.
Nearly a fifth of new cars sold in Norway in 2025 were Teslas
Elon Musk’s tesla has established itself as Norway’s best-selling car brand for five consecutive years.
The US-based EV maker found solace in Norway through 2025, despite continued weakness in several other major European markets in the same year.
A total of 34,285 new Tesla passenger cars were registered in Norway last year. This means that almost one in five new cars in Norway is a Tesla. In 2024, 24,259 Teslas will be newly registered in Japan, an increase of 41% from the previous year.
Tesla’s Model Y was particularly popular, with 27,621 initial registrations nationwide, according to OFV data.
“The fact that we achieved record new car sales and captured almost 20% market share in one year is remarkable in itself,” Stokke said. “For a brand to achieve this much volume with so few models says a lot about both demand and Tesla’s influence in the Norwegian market.”
Also Friday, Tesla said it delivered 418,227 cars in the fourth quarter of 2025, a 16% decrease from the fourth quarter of 2024, when Musk’s EV company reported deliveries of 495,570 vehicles.
