Electric car buyers in Norway don’t only benefit from a host of incentives offered by the state. Those buying an American Tesla car are also getting a favourable foreign exchange rate, sponsored by Tesla itself.
The sudden weakness of Norway’s currency, the krone, has made the popular Teslas even more expensive than they were last year, when a US dollar only cost around 6.2 kroner. Now a dollar costs more than 8 kroner, and Dagens Næringsliv (DN) reported that the price of a Tesla Model S has increased as well, from an introductory price of NOK 506,700 in 2012 (when a dollar cost NOK 5.57) to NOK 627,000 today.
The top Tesla Model S P85D costs USD 105,000, which would equate to NOK 861,000 at current exchange rates. Tesla, however, is using an “average” foreign exchange rate of NOK 7.7 that’s much more favourable to its important Norwegian market. That means the top Tesla costs NOK 808,500, for a savings of more than NOK 50,000. Accessories are priced at an exchange rate last set in May, of NOK 7.6 to one US dollar.
“We have always said that our foreign exchange rate calculations should be in favour of the customer,” Esben Pedersen, Tesla’s communications chief in Scandinavia, told DN. The exchange rate savings comes in addition to the tax incentives given all buyers of electric cars to boost their sales for environmental reasons, including exemption from Norway’s high sales tax on cars and VAT, plus exemption from road tolls, ferry fares and parking fees.
Tesla is clearly taking care of its strong market in Norway, where 3,000 Teslas were registered just this year. The carmaker recently opened another new dealership in Kristiansand, its ninth in Norway.
newsinenglish.no staff
