Norway is the leader in the world of electric vehicles, and according to data for September this year, 90 percent of the total number of cars sold were EVs and plug-in hybrid vehicles, most of which are fully electric. That was one of the reasons for VW to make a decision to stop selling ICE vehicles in this country from 2024.
In 1990, Norway abolished taxes on imported zero-emission vehicles. However, from 2023 it implements a purchase tax (25% VAT) based on the cars’ weight and on the purchase price from 500,000 Norwegian Kroner and over.
Moller Mobility Group is the largest dealer of VW vehicles in Norway, and it previously announced that it will sell only electric vehicles from 2024. However, it is not known if this also applies to VW commercial vehicles, although it may happen.
Speaking of car manufacturers, the best-selling electric car in Norway is still the Tesla Model Y (20,202 units), followed by the Volkswagen ID.4 (5,832 units) and the Škoda Enyaq (4,730 units). There are also ID.3 (2,788 units), ID. Buzz Cargo (2,624 units), ID. Buzz Pro (1,273 units) and ID.5 (1,228 units).
The VW Beetle is the legendary car of the German giant and perhaps the company’s most famous car. It was produced from 1938 until 2003, and almost 16 million units left the production lines. The car was designed by Ferdinand Porsche, yes the same one who founded Porsche AG. It is still popular in some parts of the world, such as Cuba, and the German vintage car restoration company, Memminger, turned one into a truly remarkable car.
As a base, the company took a 1973 VW Beetle 1303 and installed an air-cooled 2.7L boxer with 175 hp (129 kW) and 192 lb-ft (260 Nm) of torque. The engine is paired with a new 5-speed manual transmission with longer gear ratios. The company did not reveal the car’s performance, but a top speed of around 200 km/h is mentioned.
The car is finished in Oak Green over light brown leather that covers the interior. It is equipped with reinforced adjustable suspension, upgraded brakes, more open stainless steel exhaust system, Recaro seats, sports steering wheel, two-tone Fuchs alloy wheels.
The Memminger company was founded by Georg Memming, and due to their successful business and outstanding car transformations, they are often compared to one of the best restomod companies in the world, Singer.
The new electric sedan Volkswagen ID.7 Vizzion is coming to the Chinese market, and the most attention is attracted by the price of the car, which is 57.4 percent cheaper than in Germany. Why is this so, whether and in what way the Chinese authorities help manufacturers to be more competitive on the market?
The Chinese authorities subsidize domestic car manufacturers in various ways, through loans from state-owned banks, capital reserves from state investment funds or lower electricity fees. A few years ago, the Chinese government gave about one billion euros to Nio to save it from bankruptcy. However, it was not just financial support, because with that money the government bought a 24 percent stake in the company. After that, there was another financial injection from an unnamed state banking house in the amount of 1.5 billion euros. Now the government is helping Nio with 32,000 euros per car.
In order to be more competitive in China, VW reduced car prices last month, which turned out to be good, when it comes to sales. However, growth was achieved primarily through the sale of low-cost cars such as the Lavida sedan (13,345 euros), putting VW in second place with 1.56 million vehicles sold. BYD was first with 1.79 million vehicles sold, and Toyota was third with 1.24 million cars.
What may worry VW and its Chinese partners is the problem of low demand for their battery vehicles, as the company is sold 92,332 units. Compared to the biggest competitor, BYD (893,754 vehicles), the problem seems even bigger. Also, Tesla managed to sell five times more electric vehicles (433,729).
Another reason why cars made in China are cheaper compared to the rest of the world is cheap labor. A manufacturing worker there earns about a third of what an American or European auto worker earns annually. Also, Reuters recently wrote about an unnamed employee of the Changan Automobile Factory in Che-fei, who experienced a reduction in income and left his job in July, because his salary in May and June was only four thousand yuan a month (about 512 euros ), instead of 900 euros as he expected.
How the rest of the world, primarily Europe and the USA, will react to the increasing pressure that Chinese manufacturers are putting on the global market remains to be seen.
