Norway April 2017

The Empire Strikes Back

April signaled the end of a growing streak that had been happening since a year ago, with registrations down a harsh 20% to 3.357 units, but numbers are still historically high, with YTD numbers up 11% to 16.757 units.

Looking at April Top Sellers, the BMW i3 returned to the highest place in the podium, with 426 units, followed by the rejuvenated VW e-Golf, that with 409 units, had its best result in eight months. Given the popularity of the German hatchback in Norway, expect it to win a number of Monthly Trophies. Starting in May?

Just outside the Top 5, we have the VW Golf GTE, #6 with 221 units, signaling the return to form of another VW best-seller, so it won't be surprising if in May we see three Volkswagens in the Top 5.

It seems the all-mighty German automaker is hitting back and won't let go this market so easily.

Pl	Model	Sales
1	BMW i3	426
2	Volkswagen e-Golf	409
3	Nissan Leaf	287
4	Volkswagen Passat GTE	240
5	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	222

Looking at the YTD ranking, the VW e-Golf jumped to Fourth Place, while its plug-in hybrid sibling, the Golf GTE, climbed two positions to #8, signaling the return to form of VW Golf plug-ins, thanks to the arrival of the restyled versions.

On the other hand, the Renault Zoe lost two positions to #7, while the Tesla Model X dropped to #10, with its older brother Model S faring even worse, dropping to #14, with the American brand having its lowest sales month of the year in April. Are consumers already ditching the current offerings and waiting for the Model 3?

In the second half of the ranking, two models deserve a mention, Second Generation Toyota Prius PHV was up three positions to #25, thanks to 35 units, while the BMW 530e delivered 39 units and jumped to #29, already above its Mercedes E350e arch-rival (#30, with 40 units), a promising start to the BMW PHEV sedan, that might even win back some customers that have gone elsewhere.

A final mention to the arrival of the Opel Ampera-e, for now it has only registered 15 units, no doubt demonstration vehicles, as Opel will have its hands full in the future to deliver the 5.000-plus waiting list of its electric hatchback.

In the manufacturers ranking, Volkswagen (22%) is back at the leadership, but BMW (18%, up 1%) is holding its own, with Mercedes (12% share) in Third Place, followed by Nissan (9%).

Pl	Norway	April	YTD	%	'16Pl
1	BMW i3	426	1.939	12	5
2	Nissan Leaf	287	1.546	9	4
3	Volkswagen Passat GTE	240	1.296	8	6
4 5	Volkswagen e-Golf Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	409 222	1.115 1.111	7 7	2 1
6	Mercedes GLC350e	179	945	6	21
7 8 9	Renault Zoe Volkswagen Golf GTE Volvo XC90 T8	74 221 105	915 800 777	5 5 5	10 3 19
10	Tesla Model X	33	760	4	11
11	BMW 225xe Active Tourer	114	560	3	12
12 13 14 15 16	Mercedes B250e Hyundai Ioniq ElectricTesla Model S Audi A3 e-Tron Volvo V60 Plug-In	141 138 42 135 71	557 545 523 503 411	3 3 3 3 2	9 20 8 7 17
17	BMW X5 40e	79	403	2	16
18 19	Audi Q7 e-Tron Mercedes C350e	81 70	374 366	2 2	22 15
20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35	Volkswagen e-Up! Kia Soul EV BMW 330e Mercedes GLE500e Mitsubishi I-MievToyota Prius PHV Porsche Cayenne Plug-In Peugeot iOn Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia BMW 530e Mercedes E350e Citröen C-Zero BMW 740e Kia Optima PHEV Ford Focus ElectricOpel Ampera-e Others	53 13 33 11 10 35 18 14 14 39 11 9 4 5 5 15 1	262 199 144 99 91 90 81 80 74 47 40 27 21 18 17 15 6	2 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	14 13 24 28 25 N/A 30 23 18 N/A N/A 26 38 39 32 N/A
	TOTAL	3.357	16.757	100

Source: elbil.no; ofvas.no