Norway wraps up 2025 with 96% of its new car market fully electric, and Tesla’s sales are surging there

A record-breaking year for electric vehicle (EV) sales in Norway puts the country within touching distance of effectively erasing gasoline and diesel cars from its new car market.

A total of 95.9% of all new cars registered in Norway last year were EVs, according to data published Friday by the Norwegian Road Traffic Information Council (OFV). In December, 98% of new cars were EVs.

The annual figure was up from 88.9% at the end of 2024.

A record of 179,549 new passenger cars were registered in Norway last year, OFV data showed, representing a 40% jump year-on-year and breaking the country’s previous annual record in 2021.

The figures reaffirm the oil-producing country’s position as a global leader in sustainable transportation.

“The final sprint towards the end of the year has been historically strong, and there is no doubt that the VAT change from January 1, 2026 has contributed to a great many choosing to secure a new electric car before the year was over,” he added.

Norway’s Deputy Transport Minister Cecilie Knibe Kroglund told CNBC last year that long-term and consistent policies designed to support the uptake of EVs — rather than imposing measures to ban the use of internal combustion engine vehicles — had been pivotal to the country’s transition.

Nearly a fifth of new cars sold in Norway in 2025 were Teslas

Elon Musk’s Tesla cemented its position as the top-selling car brand in Norway for a fifth consecutive year.

The U.S.-based EV-maker found solace in Norway through 2025, despite a sustained slump in several other key European markets during the year.

A total of 34,285 new passenger Tesla cars were registered in Norway last year, which means that almost one out of every five new cars in Norway was a Tesla. It’s a 41% year-on-year increase on the 24,259 new Teslas registered in the country in 2024.

Tesla’s Model Y was especially popular, with 27,621 first-time registrations nationwide, OFV data showed.

“Taking almost 20 percent market share in a year with record-high new car sales is in itself remarkable,” Stokke said. “When a brand also achieves such volumes with so few models, it says a lot about both demand and Tesla’s impact in the Norwegian market.”

Also on Friday, Tesla revealed it had delivered 418,227 cars in the fourth quarter of 2025, 16% lower than the fourth quarter of 2024, when Musk’s EV company reported 495,570 deliveries.