Ford's electric Mustang tops Norway car sales in May

[June 01, 2021]  OSLO (Reuters) -Ford Motor Co's electric Mustang Mach-E topped Norway's car sales in May, the first full month of registrations for the crossover vehicle in the small but influential Nordic market, national data showed on Tuesday.

An electric Mustang Mach-E car is displayed during its launch in Oslo, Norway November 18, 2019. Picture taken November 18, 2019. REUTERS/Lefteris Karagiannopoulos

Battery electric vehicles made up 60.4% of all new cars sold in Norway last month, the Norwegian Road Federation (OFV) said, up from 43.1% a year ago as the country seeks to become the first to end the sale of petrol and diesel engines by 2025.

By exempting fully electric vehicles from taxes imposed on internal combustion engines, Norway has turned its car market into a testing ground for automakers seeking a path to a future without fossil fuels.

In 2020, electric cars grabbed a 54% share of the overall Norwegian market, outselling the combined volume of petrol, diesel and hybrid engines for the first time on a full-year basis.

A total of 1,384 electric Ford Mustangs were registered in May for a 10% share of Norway's overall car market, ahead of Toyota's RAV4 hybrid vehicle and Skoda's electric Enyaq. Tesla's Model 3 took sixth place.

(Reporting by Terje Solsvik, editing by Gwladys Fouche)

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