[Aika Car Deep Observation Original]
Last month, Landu Auto announced its official entry into the European market and chose its first stop in Norway. In fact, not only Lantu, but also China's new energy vehicle brands or models have almost chosen Norway as the first stop to enter Europe. Why has this Nordic country, with a population of only 5.4 million, become a "bridgehead" for Chinese new energy vehicle brands to enter Europe?
Norway: The country with the highest per capita ownership of electric vehicles
With such a set of data, in 2020, there were 141,400 new cars sold in Norway, including 76,800 pure electric vehicles, with a penetration rate of 54.3%, and Norway also became the first country in the world to account for more than 50% of electric vehicle sales. In contrast, global electric vehicle sales accounted for only 4% of new car sales in 2020.
According to the Norwegian Road Traffic Information Council (OFV), 2021, Norwegian car sales in 2021 will be 176,300 units, of which 64.5% will be pure electric vehicles, accounting for about two-thirds. The Norwegian Electric Vehicle Association said that the proportion of electric vehicles in Norwegian new car sales is expected to reach 80% in 2022, which is a very exaggerated proportion in our opinion. As the world's largest new energy vehicle market, China's penetration rate of new energy models in 2021 is only 13.8%, which is not only pure electric vehicles, but also plug-in hybrid and range-extended models. It can be seen that the acceptance of electric vehicles by Norwegian consumers is quite high.
Norway's acceptance of electric vehicles is very high, and it is now the first country in the world to have an electric vehicle penetration rate of more than 50%. The Volkswagen ID.3 is the best-selling electric model in Norway in 2021, in addition to the Tesla Model 3.
Buying an electric car is tax-free and there is also the right of way
In addition to the high acceptance of consumers, the Norwegian government is also vigorously promoting new energy models and has formulated a number of related policies. In Norway, the purchase of pure electric vehicles is not subject to purchase and import taxes, buyers are exempt from 25% VAT, and electric vehicles can save at least 50% of tolls. In addition to the tax exemption, Norway also grants a right-of-way concession. On weekdays, electric vehicles are on the road, and you can use the bus lane during peak hours. Moreover, tolls, parking fees and congestion charges in urban centers, electric vehicle owners can also enjoy different degrees of reductions.
Moreover, Norway also spares no effort in the construction of charging piles, referring to a set of data, as of the end of 2020, Norway has 1100 common fast charging stations and 7500 public slow charging stations, basically every 50km there is a charging station. And that doesn't include private charging piles that consumers install in their homes. In general, Norwegian electric car owners are basically charging, there is no problem, and naturally there is no mileage anxiety.
While Norway is vigorously promoting pure electric models, supporting facilities are also following suit. By the end of 2020, the coverage of the charging pile network has been quite extensive, and the density of one charging station can be achieved every 50km.
In addition to these policies, the car environment is also an important factor affecting consumers' car purchases. If you look at it from the map, Norway is basically in the same dimension as the northeast of the mainland, and it is estimated that many people will have doubts, in the extremely cold place of Northern Europe, the endurance of electric vehicles must be very serious, and Norwegian car owners do not care about these. But in fact, Norway is located in the western part of Northern Europe, although close to the Arctic Circle, but most of the region has a temperate oceanic climate. The average daily temperature in winter is not less than -5 °, and it is not an extremely cold weather all year round. Moreover, the dense network of charging piles also makes electric vehicle users less sensitive to mileage.
Although Norway is a Nordic country, it has a long and narrow coastline and most of the region has a temperate maritime climate. Affected by the warm Atlantic Current, Norway has four distinct seasons, and the average annual temperature in the capital is 7 °C, which is not the perennial cold imagined.
Buying an electric car for the sake of environmental protection? Not really!
Norway has set a target of achieving all newly sold vehicles as electric vehicles or hydrogen vehicles by 2025. That is to say, by 2025, Norway will completely stop selling fuel vehicles, if the Norwegian government still follows the current policy and promotion efforts, Norway is really likely to become the world's first country to stop selling fuel vehicles.
However, is Norway so vigorously promoting pure electric vehicles because of lack of oil? Norway is the largest oil producer in Western Europe (including the five Nordic countries) and the eleventh largest oil exporter in the world. However, Norway's oil is basically used to support industry and exports to earn foreign exchange. The domestic full turn to electric vehicles, saving more oil for export, how to calculate is earned.
Oil is Norway's pillar industry, Norway can become one of the richest countries in the world, oil and gas exports contribute a lot.
At the same time, Norway's vigorous promotion of electric vehicles also has a focus is that water conservancy resources are very rich. Norway is mostly mountainous and has abundant precipitation throughout the year, and when hydropower stations are built, they can generate electricity at a fairly cheap cost. There was once a set of data that norway accounted for more than 96% of the total amount of electricity generation. Electricity is not only cheap but also more than used up, naturally there is the most basic guarantee for the development of electric vehicles.
Norway is rich in hydropower resources and is very suitable for hydroelectric power generation, with about 187 billion kWh of hydropower resources that can be developed.
As for the environmental protection concept that Europeans shout every day, it may be one of the reasons, but it is definitely not the main reason. The Norwegian Electric Vehicle Association has a set of data, the reasons why Norwegians buy electric vehicles are sorted by importance, the first is the exemption/reduction of tolls (33%), the second is the exemption of vehicle purchase tax (31%), followed by the low cost of vehicle use (30%), the exemption of annual fee/traffic insurance tax (29%), and the exemption of VAT (27%). Look, there's nothing to mention about environmental protection.
Why Norway has become a bridgehead for its entry into Europe
Models from various countries are in full bloom in the Norwegian market
In the Norwegian electric vehicle market last year, Tesla won the championship with an 11.6% market share, surpassing Volkswagen for the first time to become the number one car brand in Norway in terms of annual sales, while Volkswagen accounted for 9.6%. Among the best-selling pure electric vehicles, the Tesla Model 3 is the favorite model of Norwegian consumers, followed by the Volkswagen ID.3 and Renault Zoe, and the Toyota RVA4 is the only internal combustion engine model in the top ten of the list.
The Tesla Model 3 is the favorite model of Norwegian consumers, and in 2021, it won the first annual sales volume of a single model in the Norwegian market, with 12,058 units, accounting for 6.8% of the market share.
This year, the sales data of the first two months is completely different from last year's situation, due to logistics reasons, Tesla did not enter Norway in the first two months of this year, so there is no sales data. In January, the Audi Q4 e-tron took first place in sales with 641 units, followed by the Hyundai IONIQ 5, followed by the BMW iX, all of which are new models that have just been launched. In the January sales list, faw-hongqi EHS9 of FAW Group, with a registered number of 179 vehicles, won the 13th place in the sales list. In the month, pure electric vehicles accounted for 83.7% of new car sales, once again setting a record.
In addition to Tesla and German pure electric models, Korean pure electric models also have a good performance in Norway, and in the first two months of 2022, hyundai IONIQ 5 sales in Norway have been in the top few.
Immediately after February, pure electric vehicles accounted for 75.6% of new car sales, a slight decline. The rankings have also changed, with the Hyundai IONIQ 5 in first place, the BMW iX second, the Audi Q4 e-tron third, and the Hongqi EHS9 continuing to make the list with 204 units, ranking 11th. I have to say that the red flag is really silent and has taken root in Europe.
Tesla did not appear in the sales list in the first two months of 2022 due to transportation problems, while the Hongqi E-HS9 appeared in the 11th place with a score of 204 vehicles, and the sales volume was only a single digit gap.
There is a reason for the significant increase in sales of pure electric models in Norway in 2022, as the Norwegian government has enacted a stricter co2 emissions tax, which costs at least 5% to 10% more for PHEV and other CO2-emitting cars.
Chinese brands gather in Norway
Among Chinese brands, Xiaopeng Automobile is an earlier brand that entered the Norwegian market, and in 2020, the Xiaopeng G3 model has been exported to Norway, and then in addition to the Xiaopeng G3, the Xiaopeng P7 and Xiaopeng P5 were also sent to Norway last year. By February 2021, Xiaopeng officially established its European headquarters in Europe and offices in Norway, Denmark, Germany and Sweden. In order to enhance its influence in Europe, Xiaopeng Motors' first direct-operated experience store in Europe was officially opened in Stockholm, Sweden, last month. This is Xiaopeng's first expansion in the European market after landing in Norway in 2020.
Xiaopeng Automobile is a new energy brand that entered the Norwegian market relatively early, in addition to the earliest Xiaopeng G3, Xiaopeng P7 and Xiaopeng P5 have also been sent to Norway to deliver users.
BYD announced in May 2021 that it will enter the Norwegian market, and in December 2021, it has successfully delivered the 1,000th Tang EV model in Norway, and in response to local regulations and needs in Norway, the delivered models have some targeted changes in configuration, and the local terminal price is 599,900 NORWEGIAN KRON (about 424,000 yuan), which is much more expensive than in China.
BYD only took about half a year to complete the delivery of 1,000 Tang EV vehicles in Norway, although it does not look like much, but in terms of Norwegian sales volume, this achievement has been quite outstanding.
Weilai's Li Bin once said, "Norway is a very friendly place for electric vehicles." Also in 2021, Weilai announced its entry into the European market, and the first stop must also be in Norway. In July 2021, the first batch of NIO ES8 was shipped to Norway, but unlike other brands' overseas strategies, NIO will establish a direct sales and service network in Norway, and the first NIO House outside the Chinese market will be built in Oslo, Norway. NIO has built 4 substations last year and plans to build 4 substations in Norway this year.
Weilai ES8 has also been sold in Norway, and before the vehicle is sent to Norway, Weilai has begun to lay out in Norway, and supporting facilities such as Weilai center, substation, and personal charging pile have been deployed in advance.
Compared with the new forces entering the European market, the Hongqi brand is much more low-key, in fact, in 2020, Hongqi has signed a contract with the Norwegian dealer Motor Gruppen, announcing that the Hongqi E-HS9 will be listed globally and officially enter the Norwegian market. This year, E-HS9 began to be officially delivered to Norwegian users, from the sales volume of the past two months, Hongqi E-HS9 has achieved quite good results.
Hongqi E-HS9 is definitely a representative of the muffled fortune, when we all thought that BYD, Weilai and Xiaopeng would show their fists in Norway, Hongqi quietly took the sales championship of Chinese brands in Norway. In the current situation, Hongqi E-HS9 has a great chance to enter the top ten of Electric Vehicle Sales in Norway.
Written in the end: Now everyone will misunderstand some phenomena in the overseas automobile market, such as Koreans buying Korean cars because of patriotism, and Norwegians buying electric vehicles because of environmental protection are representatives of misreading. South Koreans prefer domestic cars because of the extremely high tariffs on imported cars, while Norwegians also buy electric vehicles because of large preferential policies and can save a lot of money. If someone tells you that Europeans buy electric cars because they are eco-friendly, you can tell him it's "fake news."
And Norway can now become the country with the highest penetration rate of electric vehicles in the world, in addition to its own energy environment, it is naturally inseparable from a series of policy support from the Norwegian government, plus Norwegian consumers are more willing to try early, and from the perspective of model sales, Norwegians are not superstitious about brands, everything speaks with product strength, and this also creates an opportunity for Chinese brands to compete fairly with world-renowned brands. After all, in the field of new energy, the product strength of Chinese brands is not weak at all.
Moreover, Chinese brands have always had the determination to go out, and with such a friendly, zero tariff, and high consumption level market for electric vehicles, Norway has naturally become a bridgehead for entering the European market. Having gained enough experience in Norway, you can naturally be more comfortable when facing other European markets. In the era of electrification, everyone is on the same starting line, competing for the European market, in fact, it has just begun.
Highlights review:
Landu is about to land in Norway for delivery to overseas users in the fourth quarter
Take the first step in globalization The NIO ES8 was officially shipped to Norway
Pure electric smart SUV E-HS9 European journey officially began
Chinese brands have entered Norway