Hyundai will sell only electric cars in Norway

Hyundai will ditch selling internal combustion engine cars in favour of pure electric models only in Norway from 2023.

It’s no surprise as Norway has long had the world’s largest electric vehicle adoption rates, with the South Korean carmaker already committing to only selling pure-electric models and plug-in hybrid versions of its Tucson and Santa Fe SUVs in 2020.

Now, those two models will be axed with the Hyundai Norwegian lineup to only consist of the Kona Electric small SUV (which will soon have an all-new successor), Ioniq 5 medium crossover, and newly launched Ioniq 6 sports sedan from January 1, 2023.

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Between 2020 to 2022, 92 per cent of the South Korean carmaker’s sales in Norway were fully-electric models.

“We have great faith in the model portfolio we already have, and now that we have launched the all-new Ioniq 6, the time has come to only sell fully-electric cars in the Norwegian market,” Hyundai Norway's managing director, Thomas Rosvold, said.

“The Ioniq 5 and Kona Electric have long since taken positions as some of the most popular cars in the market, and we are confident that our pure electric cars will give us continued success into the future."

It’s unclear whether the Hyundai Nexo hydrogen fuel-cell SUV would live on in the country.

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Hyundai Nexo

Why are EVs so popular in Norway?

Heavy incentives for owning an EV, like lower taxes and toll road fees, and disincentives for internal-combustion engine cars, such as imposing hefty pollution taxes and wider emissions regulations, have encouraged Norwegians to go tailpipe emissions-free – despite the Government reducing EV incentives this year.

This has resulted in price parity already being achieved between the two powertrains.

For example, buying the Hyundai Tucson plug-in hybrid in Norway costs from 514,900 NOK (AU$76,900) – but the Ioniq 5 EV undercuts it, priced from 504,900 NOK (AU$75,400).

It’s a similar story with the Volkswagen Golf small hatchback starting from 378,200 NOK (AU$56,500) compared to the ID.3 EV priced from 401,500 NOK (AU$60,000) in Norway.

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Hyundai Ioniq 6

According to Norway’s Information Council for Road Traffic, pure battery-electric vehicles have accounted for 78 per cent of new car sales to the end of November 2022. It’s led by the Tesla Model Y, Volkswagen ID.4 and Skoda Enyaq SUVs.

In contrast, EVs have only made up around three per cent of the Australian new car market in the same period in 2022. EV sales this year are already six times higher than in 2021, with the Tesla Model 3, Model Y and BYD Atto 3 leading the charge.

The earliest carmaker pledging to offer an electric-only lineup in Australia is Volvo, starting from 2026.