In 2018, a total of 120,499 new passenger cars were registered. The corresponding figure for 2017 was 118,587, meaning that the increase represents a growth of 1.6% on the previous year. The number of first registrations of vans remained at the same level as the previous year, whereas first registrations of lorries saw an increase. In total, the number of first registrations of vehicles grew by 1.7% in 2018.
2018 saw a continued increase in the numbers of cars that use alternative power sources (electric / chargeable hybrid / gas). The number of first registrations of diesel vehicles was over 20% lower in 2018 compared to the previous year. Registrations of new petrol-powered passenger cars, meanwhile, saw a slight increase. Of the passenger cars registered for the first time, over 15% were not normal petrol- or diesel-powered cars.
In 2018, the most popular car models were Nissan Qashqai, Skoda Octavia and Toyota Yaris. The most popular car brands were Toyota, Volkswagen and Skoda.
Nearly half of all first registrations of passenger cars (53,765) were made in Uusimaa. The smallest number of vehicle first registrations was seen in Central Ostrobothnia (894). The number of first registrations saw the largest percentage growth in North Ostrobothnia (8.7%). For Finnish cities, the largest number of first registrations were made in Helsinki (17,286).
Last year, there were a total of 15,515 first registrations of vans, which is 0.1% smaller than the figure for the previous year. The most popular van models were Volkswagen and Ford.
For lorries, the total number of first registrations last year was 3897, which is 12.2% higher than the figure for 2017. For these lorry registrations, a large number were particularly heavy vehicles, with over 74% of them weighing over 16 tons.
Last year, a total of 475 new buses were registered. This figure is 7.6% larger than that of the previous year.
The number of imports of second-hand vehicles saw a strong increase in 2018. Around 40,000 used passenger cars were imported during the year. This represents a 35% increase on the previous year.
Further information
Esa Aaltonen, Head of Department, tel. +358 295 347 132, esa.aaltonen(at)traficom.fi
Mika Idman, Special Adviser, tel. +358 29 534 5222, mika.idman(at)traficom.fi (statistics)