walk! Go to Norway, new energy vehicles get together to "break into" Northern Europe

With the "tide of going abroad" of domestic new energy vehicles, Lantu Automobile has also recently opened its own era of "great navigation" and set its first stop in Norway.

(Video Producer: Fan Mengcheng)

On February 17, Lantu Automobile officially announced its official entry into Europe, which is also the first national electric vehicle team to go to sea.

In order to conquer the Norwegian market, Lantu Automobile has done a full study, the Norwegian landform is narrow and long from north to south, more than half of the land area is above 500 meters above sea level, and Lantu FREE, which has strong kinetic energy performance and larger size, has become the advance soldier in this sea war.

According to the plan, in June this year, Landu FREE will be officially unveiled in Norway, and the first landu auto overseas flagship store will be established in the center of Oslo, the capital of Norway, and the delivery of the Norwegian market will be realized in the fourth quarter.

In fact, in addition to Lantu Automobile, the "small" Norway has gathered many new energy vehicles, including Tesla, SAIC, Xiaopeng Motors, BYD, Weilai Automobile and so on.

(Draft: Wu Di)

Norway's appeal

Among the figures of the sea, SAIC took the lead.

As early as 2017, SAIC Maxus began its own journey in Europe, from the initial commercial vehicles to the current new energy intelligent vehicles.

In the first 10 months of 2021, SAIC's MG ZS EV sold 2,396 units in Norway, ranking 17th in the Norwegian list of pure electric vehicle sales.

It was followed by Sac, where in November 2020 100 SUV 100 SUV arrived in Norway for prices starting at NOK 358,000 (about 256,000 yuan). Nine months later, the first batch of exported ultra-long endurance intelligent coupe Xiaopeng P7 set sail in Guangzhou Xinsha Port and delivered to Norwegian users in October of that year.

Statistics show that in 2021, Xiaopeng Motors will deliver 438 new cars in Norway, of which Xiaopeng G3 is the main force, selling 406 vehicles, accounting for nearly 93%, and Xiaopeng P7 sells 32 vehicles.

With the rapid development and growth of new energy vehicles, more new energy vehicles have begun to enter the European market.

In May 2021, NIO officially announced the "Norwegian Strategy", which plans to deliver 7,000 ES6 and ES8 vehicles in Europe within two years. Four months later, the ES8 opened in Norway and delivered 128 units in less than two months.

Also in May, BYD announced that it would make Norway its first pilot market.

At that time, BYD Chairman Wang Chuanfu said, "Based on the solid foundation and international image laid by the electrification of buses in overseas markets in the past decade, BYD has carefully prepared for the overseas private car market, and 1,500 Tang EVs equipped with blade batteries will be shipped to Norway in 2021, and the internationalization strategy will continue to accelerate." ”

The Norwegian market in 2021 is bustling, in addition to NIO and BYD, FAW Hongqi also announced in October that its second pure electric SUV car, the Faw-Hongqi E-HS9, will enter Norway and sign a contract with Motor Gruppen, a well-known Norwegian electric vehicle import dealer, which is also its first business partner in Europe.

What is the magic of this country with an area of 385,000 square kilometers (about the equivalent of a Yunnan province) to attract new energy vehicles to enter?

Car commentator Zhong Shi told the "International Finance News" reporter that China's new energy vehicles want to gain a foothold in Europe, need to find a small-scale market that is easy to "land", and Norway is this "bridgehead".

Although Germany, France and other countries have large populations and vast markets, their domestic automobile industries are developed, so the threshold for foreign new energy vehicles to enter is higher.

Landu Automobile said in an interview with the "International Finance News" reporter that Norway is a very friendly country to new energy vehicle companies, which has the world's highest penetration rate of new energy vehicles, perfect supporting infrastructure, great policy support and Norwegian people's love for environmental protection concepts, which has promoted Landu Automobile to open a global layout in the Norwegian market.

These factors have made Norway the first stop for many new energy vehicle companies to enter the European market.

As the country with the highest penetration rate of electric vehicles in the world, Norway once became the world's third largest new energy vehicle market, and the first "clean country" in the world to exceed the annual sales of electric vehicles, and announced that it will directly ban the sale of fuel vehicles in 2025.

In 2021, New Car Sales in Norway increased by 25%, reaching a record 176276, of which pure electric vehicles accounted for 65%, an increase of 11 percentage points in one year. The Norwegian Electric Vehicle Association expects that in 2022, electric vehicle sales will account for 80% of the Norwegian automotive market.

Luo Lei, deputy secretary-general of the China Automobile Dealers Association, also mentioned in an interview with the "International Finance News" reporter that Norway's low population density, developed economic level, strong consumption capacity of residents, early popularization of automobiles, the government's multi-faceted policies for new energy vehicles, especially in terms of taxation, are unmatched by other European countries.

Zhong Shi agreed, "Norway's new energy vehicle market consumption environment will be the best in Europe."

The vigorous development of new energy vehicles is also inseparable from Norway's perfect charging infrastructure facilities.

According to statistics, Norway currently has more than 1100 public fast charging stations and 7500 public ordinary charging stations, and the charging network with high-density coverage has broken the norwegian consumers' anxiety about the range of electric vehicle travel.

Not only that, the concept of environmental protection is also one of the key points of Lantu Automobile and other new energy vehicles in Norway. The Norwegian government not only actively lays out charging facilities, but also introduces a number of policies to support the transformation of electrification, including exemption from 25% value-added tax on electric vehicles, exemption from import duties and exemption from road maintenance tax, and free municipal parking lots, free road and bridge fees. On the contrary, the purchase of fuel vehicles requires the payment of a wide range of taxes with higher tax rates.

Luo Lei pointed out that Norway has long had road personnel restrictions on fuel vehicles, and new energy vehicles are not limited. At the same time, although Norway is a big oil producer, the local oil price is actually very expensive.

Where's next?

Although the Norwegian market is extremely friendly to new energy vehicles, new car companies will still face problems such as fierce competition and market capacity.

Lantu Automobile told the "International Finance News" reporter that the Norwegian electric vehicle market is very mature, and as traditional multinational car companies begin to exert their strength, it also means that competition will be more intense. In 2021, the Tesla Model 3 became the highest-selling model in Norway, followed by Toyota's plug-in hybrid model RAV4 and Volkswagen ID.4. As a new brand established less than 2 years ago, Landu Automobile entered Norway, and to confront mature brands, word of mouth and product strength need to be verified by the local market, and there are certain challenges. To this end, Lando has developed and tested the corresponding products in accordance with the consumer needs, regulatory requirements and market environment of Norway and other European countries in a targeted manner to better meet European users.

In Lantu's view, although the competition is fierce, it also has its own advantages: "At present, Chinese car companies go to sea in Norway, all in the form of vehicle exports, under the influence of the epidemic, the transportation link will have a certain degree of delay and challenge." Due to the epidemic situation, it is impossible to visit the local market, but Lantu Automobile will use the resource advantages of Dongfeng Group's import and export overseas to provide a resource platform for site selection and store construction. ”

For many car companies, entering Norway is only the first step to expanding the European market. Lantu Automobile admitted that it will speed up the pace of overseas market expansion and successively enter other European countries.

So after Norway, where is the next stop for new energy vehicles?

Luo Lei predicts that it will be a similar country to Norway, "without a local automobile industry, the country will advance the time for the sale of fuel vehicles, and the preferential policies for the purchase of new energy vehicles will be improved." ”

Zhong Shi also said that the future development of China's new energy vehicles will be in small countries with small populations but relatively rich, so that the development from small to large will enable China's new energy vehicles to accumulate enough experience to "struggle" with local car companies.

The answer is clear...

Xiaopeng Motors' next goal is to enter the Swedish and Dutch markets and open Europe's first brand retail store in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden.

It is foreseeable that in the future, more and more new energy vehicles will gallop on the European continent...

Reporter: Fan Mengcheng Intern: Wu Di

Edit: Zuo Yu

Editor-in-Charge: BiDandan

Cover source: Video screenshot