NAF fears for the car fleet in Norway

2020 will be a record year for new car sales, Naf reports. In a negative sense.

With fewer than 120,000 new cars registered through November of this year inclusive, the interest organization predicts that the decrease will be almost 10 percent from last year (142,000 in total). Or close to 20 percent in three years, relatively extreme.

Compared to 2018 (148,000) and 2017 (158,500), it looks even worse, worse, if you think it’s stupid that few cars are sold. At least sales have dropped every year.

– Poor new car sales increase the age of an already aging car fleet, explains senior communications consultant Nils Sødal at Naf.

Isn’t it corona?

But there may be a number of reasons why new car sales will drop in 2020. Sødal acknowledges that the main explanation for this year’s sales figures is the pandemic we’re in.

– The fact that used car sales are higher than usual indicates that people have been more cautious when buying a car. It seems that many have chosen to buy new used due to the crown situation, Sødal tells Dinside.

– 90 percent of electric cars next year

– Many have been or are on the waiting list for cars like VW ID. 3, VW ID. 4 and Skoda Enyaq. These have been delayed. Don’t you think that’s also one of the reasons?

– It may also be that delays in popular electric car models have affected sales.

– Should people have bought diesel or gasoline cars instead of waiting for these electric cars?

– We believe that people need to buy the car that they think is right for them. Whether it is an electric, gasoline, diesel or hybrid car, people must decide for themselves.

Will take Norway by storm

Aging every year

Sødal points out that the Norwegian car fleet has gradually aged each year, since the turn of the millennium. In 1999, the cars had an average age of 9.9 years. In 2019, they were 10.7 years old. It is almost a year. And the trend has not stopped.

Naf believes that new car sales will end at around 130,000 cars in 2020. This represents a decrease of between 9 and 10 percent from last year.

Now Sødal encourages politicians to think again about car politics.

– We give two pieces of advice to politicians. One is not raising car taxes. The parties are preparing to introduce higher taxes on both electric and gasoline and diesel cars from 2022. It is not wise if one is concerned about renewing the car fleet, warns the communications adviser.

Norway’s first!

Second, Naf believes that the time has come to take a closer look at the remains deposit.

– We need a renewed accident plan, one that more deliberately removes older and more dangerous cars from traffic. It will contribute to a better environment, a newer car fleet, and better road safety. Also, a new accident plan will probably affect districts well, because we see that this is where the age of the car fleet is oldest, says Sødal.