The number of new cars registered in Finland last year fell by 17 percent compared to the previous year, according to the official statistics bureau.
In all, nearly 151,000 new vehicles were registered last year, with passenger cars accounting for about 82,000 of them, Statistics Finland said on Tuesday.
After a spike during the pandemic, imports of used cars dipped by nine percent to just over 41,000.
The figures cover mainland Finland, not including the autonomous Åland Islands.
EVs soar, plug-in hybrids dip
Meanwhile, the proliferation of electric vehicles (EVs) continued, with more than 14,500 new ones registered. That accounted for 18 percent of all new passenger cars, reflecting an increase of 43 percent from 2021.
While sales of EVs rose, those for cars powered by petrol and diesel declined. So did plug-in hybrids, whose market share dipped to about 20 percent, barely outpacing fully-electric cars.
By year’s end, plug-in cars (including hybrids and fully-electrics) made up nearly half of all cars sold in Finland. In December there were about 45,000 EVs and 104,000 plug-in hybrids on the road, soaring from fewer than 10,000 and 46,000 respectively in 2020.
A week ago, the European Parliament effectively banned the sale of new petrol and diesel cars in the EU from 2035, aiming to speed up the switch to electric vehicles to cut emissions.
