Norwegian VW importer to stop selling combustion vehicles

The Norwegian Volkswagen importer Møller Mobility Group has decided to only import electric cars from 1 January 2024. The sale of combustion engines and plug-in hybrids is to be discontinued.

This would mean that Volkswagen in Norway would say goodbye to combustion engines two years earlier than demanded by Norway’s government. The government had decided that all new passenger car registrations should be purely electric by the end of 2025.

Ulf Tore Hekneby, head of the Volkswagen importer, hopes for more ambitious goals from the government, such as a fixed date after which at least half of the vehicle fleet must be emission-free. The share of electric cars in Norway’s stock would currently be 18 per cent. The zero-emission share in the passenger car fleet at VW would currently even be 22 per cent, which is higher than the overall market.

Hekneby also points to a report by the Institute of Transport Economics, according to which 50 per cent of the passenger car fleet could be electrified in 2036 if all current incentives are maintained, including the VAT exemption on electric cars, which is to be dropped on 1 January 2023 if the vehicle costs more than 500,000 kroner (equivalent to just under 49,000 euros at present). He estimates that the elimination of this subsidy alone could mean that the target of 50 per cent electric vehicles in the fleet might not be reached until 2042.

In terms of new registrations, just over 6,900 of VW’s 8,500 newly registered passenger cars were purely electric, a share of just under 81 per cent. The lion’s share, more than 5,400 units, was accounted for by the VW ID.4. Group sister Audi even achieved 97 per cent in the same period. According to Hekneby, the delivery situation will determine exactly how high the share of electric cars will be at VW this year. The BEV share could already be significantly higher.

A look at the market as a whole shows that, at least in terms of new registrations, the step towards 100 per cent of new BEV cars is getting closer. This year, electric cars accounted for well over 70 per cent of new registrations.

heise.de (in German), postsen.com (in Norwegian)