It has been announced that car sales in 2024 would experience a complete collapse.
And now the prediction seems to be coming true: In March it was halved compared to last year, in a month that normally tends to be good.
According to the Road Traffic Information Council, it is the worst March in 15 years.
– Compared to new car sales in March 2023, the number of first-time registered new passenger cars is 50 per cent behind last year. Strong price growth and high interest rates cause many people to postpone or lower the priority of buying a new car, OFV reports.
The fall came despite the fact that the campaign activities have been very large from a number of brands, not least Tesla, which started the year with a campaign that required the car to be delivered before April.
Moreover, April has already been kicked off with even more aggressive campaigns. Hyundai is now tempting with an interest rate of 0.01 per cent.
People’s SUVs at their best
Tesla was the month’s big winner, with almost 2,000 new Model Ys on the road. But even if the numbers are good, this is considerable less than last year when the company ran a similar campaign and got nearly 7,500 new cars on the road.
In clear second place was Toyota’s only electric car, the BZ4X, which has picked up speed after a rather sluggish start. Toyota increased the number on Norwegian roads by over 11 per cent in March.
VW’s ID. 4 snuck into the last podium position, while Volvo’s little newcomer EX30 has shot straight into the top tier with a fourth place.
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Thus, all the most sold cars in Norway are currently family SUVs of the more affordable type.
– New car sales, which are often a kind of temperature gauge on people’s finances, reflect the financial challenges many are experiencing, says director Øyvind Solberg Thorsen of the Information Council for Road Traffic.
In several of the years behind us, with the exception of 2023, low interest rates, prices and good finances for many have contributed to high new car sales. Large and expensive cars have often topped the sales lists.
– Now we see a completely different trend. New car sales have fallen sharply, especially in March, but also in the first quarter over time. And now most people choose smaller and more moderately priced new cars than in the past five or six years, he says, and believes this will affect new car sales going forward. Not only here at home, but also in Europe and other parts of the world.
Just a couple of years ago, it was quite normal to find expensive million-dollar cars among the best sellers. So far this year, we have to go below 20th place to find more expensive models such as the BMW iX and Audi Q8. Only two examples of the Porsche Taycan have been registered so far this year.
The used market is also doing poorly
It is not only the new car market that is doing poorly: the used market is also slow.
The number of changes of ownership ended at 111,205, which is a decrease of just under 10 per cent compared to 2023.
– The decline in the second-hand market is another sign that many are more moderate and careful with their spending in an uncertain time. Some are probably waiting to buy a new car, and instead choose to keep the car they have for a while longer, says Solberg Thorsen.
– Parallel to this, we also see that the numbers of wrecks have decreased. So far this year, around 18,000 passenger cars have been wrecked in Norway. That’s 6.5 percent fewer than in the first quarter of last year, which emphasizes that a good number are keeping a little extra and thinning out the last of the car before they choose to scrap it.
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