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.

"2025 has been a very special car year. We see the effect of long-term and targeted electric car policy, and how specific tax decisions have immediate effects on the market," OFV director Geir Inge Stokke said in a statement.

"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.

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 Elon Musk's EV company reported 495,570 deliveries.