Only seven petrol cars were sold in Norway last month, data from the Norwegian Road Traffic Information Council (OFV) reveals.
Alongside the seven petrol cars sold, just 98 new diesels were registered, alongside 29 hybrids.
Car sales across the country were slow in January, as buyers were keen to avoid the new year’s tax hikes. This translated into a bumper month for EV sales in December 2025.
In fact, EVs made up 95.9% of all new-car sales last year, with high carbon taxes, generous EV subsidies, and the lack of a powerful anti-electric vehicle lobby cited as the primary reasons behind Norway’s EV love-in.
The OFV is confident that mass demand for EVs will spill over into the Norwegian second-hand car market, as sales of EVs grew by 22.7% year-on-year this January, with electric vehicles comprising one in four cars on the used car market. When it comes to the most popular EVs in Norway, the Tesla Model Y is the undisputed market leader leader, holding a 19% market share.
On the back of the latest figures, OFV director, Geir Inge Stokke, commented: “Electrification is now taking clear hold in the used car market as well. This makes the electric car a more accessible alternative for far more buyers than before.”
Norway has long been a leader in European adoption, but other countries are catching up as motorists ditch internal combustion in favour of electric.
In neighbouring Denmark, EV sales have rocketed from 2% to 68% over the last decade, while the market for electric cars has surpassed 33% in the Netherlands, Finland, Belgium, and Sweden.
Closer to home, a recently published report from used car specialists Cinch found that the sales of used EVs in the UK are up 29% year-on-year, with prices dropping by 4% between 2024 and 2025.
Tesla was the most popular used EV brand amongst UK buyers, followed by Volkswagen, Hyundai, Vauxhall, and Kia.
