Tesla keeps its customers in Norway better than any other carmaker. Of the Tesla owners who bought a new car between 1 January and 27 September 2026, 72.8% chose another Tesla, according to an analysis by the road traffic information council OFV. "Tesla has a loyalty no other large brand comes close to," OFV chief executive Geir Inge Stokke said when he presented the figures at the council's quarterly Bilkvartalet briefing on 6 October. TV 2 published the brand comparison on 20 October.
How the brands compare
| Brand | Owners who switched to another brand |
|---|---|
| Nissan | 80.9% |
| Audi | 78.5% |
| Volkswagen | 78.0% |
| Toyota | 48.2% |
| Tesla | 27.2% |
Nissan is the mirror image of Tesla. The Leaf brought many of Norway's early electric-car buyers to the brand; now 80.9% of Nissan owners buy something else, most of them a Tesla. More Nissan owners now replace their car with a Tesla than with another Nissan, TV 2 reports. Toyota, known for loyal buyers, still loses almost half.
Where Tesla's defectors go
The 27.2% who leave Tesla are spread thin. No single brand takes more than BMW's 3.0%, followed by Volvo on 2.4%, Volkswagen on 1.5%, and Mercedes-Benz and Kia on 0.9% each. Taken together, Chinese brands are the growing destination: 12.7% of Tesla owners who bought a new car this year picked one, against 7.5% across 2025.
That matches the wider market. Chinese brands took 19.4% of private new-car purchases in 2026 so far, after 13.7% of all new cars in 2025 and 10.4% in 2024. Of their buyers, 48% came from a European brand, 20.4% from a Japanese one, 11.9% from American brands including Tesla and 7.7% from Korean brands. Only 12.1% already drove a Chinese car. The share switching to a Chinese brand rose among owners of every one of Norway's ten biggest brands.
What it means for Tesla
Loyalty is only half of Tesla's Norwegian picture. Of the people who bought a new Tesla this year, only 29.6% had owned one before, and four in ten came from a European brand. Tesla still wins most of its Norwegian sales from owners of other brands. Its share is under pressure all the same: in September the Model Y was again the country's best-selling car, but Tesla's share fell seven points to 26.3%, in a market that grew 31%.
The defection figure is the one to watch. One Tesla owner in eight who bought a new car in 2026 chose a Chinese brand. That is happening even though, in the EV association's spring survey, 31% of Norwegian EV owners said they would avoid Chinese brands for political reasons.
About the figures
OFV looked at passenger cars with a private owner and user, first registered new between 1 January and 27 September 2026, and at the car each buyer had before, which could have been bought new or used. The data comes from OFV and the Norwegian Public Roads Administration.