Last time I spoke with you, we went to our traditional monthly worldwide Roundup, spending time praising the ever-impressive performance of the Nissan Qashqai. This week I take you to Norway, the new land of the Nissan Leaf…
Contrasting with the rest of Europe, Norwegian new car sales are in great shape in April, up 29 percent year-on-year to 13,988 registrations which brings the year-to-date total back into positive at 47,684 units, up 4 percent on 2012.
If the VW Golf unsurprisingly flies above the competition with 903 sales and 6.5 percent share now that the Mazda CX-5 is out of sight at #16, the big event this month is the continuous progression of the Nissan Leaf, now #2 at 455 units and a 3.3 percent share.
This is by far the Leaf’s best ranking anywhere in the world, and no less than the fourth consecutive record month for the Nissan Leaf in Norway, after ranking #4 with 297 units and 2.8% in March, #5 with 287 sales and 2.5% in February and #9 in January.
In fact, Norway is the only country in the world where the Nissan Leaf has managed to break into the monthly Top 10!
This is another proof (if we needed one) that government incentives are the key (for now) to success for electric cars. Norwegian buyers of the Nissan Leaf benefit from priority lines to avoid congested traffic, similarly to what was done with the Toyota Prius in California.
You can be sure you’ll be the first to know if the Leaf manages the historical feat of taking the lead of the Norwegian models ranking in the coming months!
Matt Gasnier, based in Sydney, Australia, runs a blog named Best Selling Cars, dedicated to counting cars all over the world.
