Slump in new car sales hits Scandinavia: Norway, Sweden and Denmark battle economic challenge

It is not only in Norway that new car sales are currently low. Also in Denmark and Sweden there was a noticeable decline in the number of new car registrations in March compared to the same period last year. All three countries also saw declines throughout the first quarter.

The decline in new car sales is affecting Scandinavia

In Norway, the number of registered po the first time new passenger cars in March amounted to 9750. This means a decrease by half compared to the same month last year, when just over 19 new passenger cars were sold. Swedes experienced almost 000 percent. decline, while the Danes saw a decline of 20 percent. Both car buyers and Car industry They are well aware that difficult economic times are ahead.

Norway, Sweden and Denmark are struggling with the economic challenge

– It is worth noting that sales of new cars, i.e. the number of new passenger cars registered for the first time, decreased throughout Scandinavia. Both in March and in the first quarter combined. This shows that we are all in a difficult financial situation, says director Øyvind Solberg Thorsen of the Road Traffic Information Council (OFV).
– The fact that the decline is the smallest in Denmark can be attributed to the fact that the Danish krone is much stronger than the Norwegian krone and Sweden, but also with the fact that there are incentives there to increase the attractiveness of purchasing electric cars, which reached 42% in March. share in sales. The share of electric cars is clearly increasing, which shows that electric cars are becoming dominant in the registration statistics in Denmark.

Swedes are loyal

In Sweden, the arrows point in the opposite direction. There, the share of electric cars dropped from 42%. in March last year to 36 percent in March this year. This means that hybrids, plug-in hybrids and cars powered solely by petrol and diesel make up the majority of new Swedish passenger cars in the third month of the year.
– Although the well-known American electric car also tops the new car statistics in Sweden, Swedes are loyal to their own cars, which occupy many of the top 10. And preferably petrol plug-in hybrids, says Solberg Thorsen.

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Decline in new car sales

In the first quarter, the number of new passenger cars registered for the first time in Norway dropped by as much as 22 percent compared to the same period in 2023. Norway thus experienced the largest quarterly decline in the Nordics.

The lowest quarterly decline was recorded by the Swedes, which amounted to 4,7 percent, while in Denmark the decline was 7,5 percent.
The Danes, however, recorded a significant increase in the share of electric cars in the first quarter. It increased from 29,8 percent. last year to 41,1 percent in the first quarter of 2024. In Sweden, the share of new electric cars decreased from 36,4%. in 2023 to 31,5 percent in the first quarter of this year.

– The discussion in Europe about increased production of electric cars is entering a new phase. Major car-producing countries such as Germany and France are struggling to gain the same electric car traction in their markets as Norway and Scandinavia. There are still many people on the continent who prefer petrol and diesel cars, says Solberg Thorsen. He also points out that many car manufacturers are moving away from the strategy of quickly phasing out cars with combustion engines in favor of slowly switching to electricity. In the “other country” of Norway, the percentage of electric cars seems to have now stabilized at 90%.

 95 percent of electricians – is this a good enough result?

– Maybe it's worth talking about whether 90-95 percent electric cars is a good enough result, because there is still a part that, for various reasons, needs something other than an electric car. The harsh winter showed that both municipal road services and emergency vehicles have to work in extreme weather conditions. It is also prudent to have a small percentage of new petrol and diesel cars for the sake of social safety and emergency preparedness. However, in order to keep Norway just over 90 percent in the future, there should still be some incentives that make the choice of an electric car the most attractive, he says.

– It will be interesting to see to what extent this year's wage settlement and a possible reduction in interest rates at the end of the year in Norway will contribute to faster sales of new cars. Many people are still much more cautious about spending large sums on a new car than they were just a few years ago, says Øyvind Solberg Thorsen.

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