Hyundai welcomes 2023 by leaving combustion engines behind... but only in Norway

Norway has become a country where combustion-engine cars are doomed to disappear. Electrified cars are increasingly carving out a place in that market, and traditional models are losing momentum. It is a small country, which makes it perfect for setting the rules that can later be applied across the rest of Europe.

Many manufacturers have already announced that by the end of this decade or early in the next, they will stop producing fossil-fuel-powered cars and will switch entirely to electric vehicles. It will take a few years, but some brands have already decided that they will do so right now. And the testing ground will once again be Norway.

Hyundai makes its move in Norway

The country has been chosen for the next move by Hyundai. It will be the first country where the Korean brand stops selling vehicles with combustion engines. From 1 January 2023, only electric models from Hyundai will arrive in Norway. So it will be impossible to find new vehicles from the brand that are not electric. Even plug-in hybrids, which will also disappear from its catalogue.

The decision was not very difficult to make, since sales of non-electrified cars have been falling steadily for several years. The Korean company had already taken the preliminary step when it decided to stop selling non-electrified cars in Norway. Now it takes a further step in that policy and gives up selling any car with a combustion engine.

As for Hyundai sales in Norway between 2020 and the end of 2022, pending the December figures, they have been almost entirely fully electric vehicles. Of the 25,000 units sold, 92% were electric cars. So it is no surprise that it has taken the step and made Norway the first country where it will no longer sell any polluting car.