In January and February, 17,545 new passenger cars were registered, which is 8% less than at the beginning of last year. The February figure was only 1.2 percent lower than a year earlier, suggesting a market recovery, according to the Road Traffic Information Center.
“The number of first registrations has not yet returned to pre-Korona levels. The order backlog for new cars was well below normal last year. The corona situation began to affect first registrations last March and the impact was greatest in April-June,” he said. Tero Kallio, Chairman of the Association of Finnish Importers.
The growth in registrations of rechargeable cars continued in February, with about 21.4 per cent of new registered passenger cars being hybrid rechargeable cars and 4.4 per cent fully electric cars.
More biogas stations on the way
On Thursday, Statistics Finland announced that 2,104 new electric and rechargeable hybrid cars were registered in mainland Finland in February, which is more than 57 per cent more than a year earlier.
About 61 percent of new registered cars had regular gasoline engines or hybrids without external charging capability. Diesel engines and hybrids accounted for 12.1 percent of the market.
Biogas cars accounted for 1.2 per cent of registrations in February, the same as in January.
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There are just over 12,000 biogas cars in Finland, compared to 3,000 in 2017. There are about 60 service stations, of which 18 are to be built with investment subsidies approved by the Energy Authority at the beginning of this year.
There are a total of about 2.7 million passenger cars on the road.
Fewer vans, trucks and buses
New van registrations fell 2.8 percent, while truck and truck registrations fell 13 percent in January-February compared with the early months of last year.
The number of new bus registrations remains at a record low. In January-February, only 22 new buses were registered, 57 percent less than in the early months of last year.
The total number of cars decreased last year, with the registration of 96,417 new passenger cars, or about 18 new cars per thousand inhabitants. It was a significant decline from 2019, when 21 new cars per thousand inhabitants were registered.
Source: The Nordic Page