A few weeks ago we saw how Europe launched a project that will ban the sale of cars with a combustion engine in 2035. Something that also affects hybrids and plug-in hybrids. A term that many criticized saying that it was too soon, but others indicate that it is even conservative since the market will go ahead. Today Volkswagen has confirmed that it will stop selling cars with a combustion engine in Norway in 2024.
This announcement will mean that from January 1 of that year, just 16 months ahead to get going, customers who go to a Volkswagen dealer in the Nordic country will not be able to find any model or diesel, gasoline, or hybrid. for sale. Goodbye Passat, Tiguan, T-Rock…etc.
A movement that has caught many by surprise and that involves not only anticipating European regulations, which do not affect Norway but also anticipating the government’s program, which was much more aggressive than Europe’s, and which meant the end of sales of cars with combustion engines in 2025.
Volkswagen wants this to be a powerful message that electrification is not only necessary for energy transformation but that it is possible also in the short term. A challenge of achieving 100% sales that the German brand has within reach, counting in the first part of 2022 with a sales quota of 81% of pure electrics. Figure that from the German brand they expect that in 2023 it will reach 90%, and in 2024 to 100%.
It will be easier for other brands, such as Audi, whose sales this year in Norway are already 97% occupied by electric vehicles, or the Hyundai/KIA group, with 90%.
Some objectives take into account the upcoming changes in Norwegian legislation, which will recover VAT on electric cars, starting with those of more than 50,000 euros for sales from January 1, 2023. An exemption that will be replaced by the system by sections depending on the price of the electricity in question with 4% for those of up to 60,000 euros, while from 100,000 euros they will reach 12.5%. Figures are still low if we compare them with the 25% that conventional models have to pay, and that from 2024 Volkswagen will not be found.
