Few cars scrapped in 1997

After 223,499 cars and vans were scrapped in 1996 as a result of the higher scrapping refund in effect that year, the number plunged to a mere 45,082 last year. Car owners in Aust-Agder delivered the most cars, while Oslo scrapped the fewest in relation to the total car fleet.

The number of cars and vans scrapped last year is the lowest since 1985. While 12.1 per cent of all cars and vans were scrapped in 1996, the ratio fell to only 2.3 per cent in 1997.

Of the nearly 45,000 vehicles scrapped, 42,152 were cars and 2,930 were vans. They made up 2.4 and 1.5 per cent of the national fleet.

Two-thirds older than 15 years

Altogether 28,027 of the 42,152 cars delivered to scrappers in 1997 were 16 years old or older, accounting for 66.5 per cent, against 68.2 per cent in 1996. The nation's fleet of cars over 15 years old nevertheless increased by 20 per cent from 1996 to1997.

Mercedes kept the longest

The average age at scrapping was 17.4 years for cars, the same as in 1996. For vans the average age dropped from 14.5 years in 1996 to 14.2 years in 1997.

Mercedes cars had an average age at scrapping of 21.3 years. By comparison, the average age of a Skoda was only 13.1 years when it was taken out of service. In terms of the percentage of the fleet, however, Lada cars accounted for 8.8 per cent. Among vans, Volvo had the highest average age at scrapping, at 17.7 years.

New Statistics

Vehicles discarded against refund, 1997.
Statistics are published annually in the Weekly Bulletin of Statistics and Official Statistics of Norway Transport and Communication Statistics. Regional figures will be published in the series Official Statistics of Norway (NOS) Regional Statistics. For more information, contact: Asbjørn Wethal, tel. +47 62 88 54 15, e-mail: sbjørn.willy.wethal@ssb.no.wethal, or Jan Monsrud, tel. +47 62 88 54 07, e-mail: jan.monsrud@ssb.no.monsrud.

Weekly Bulletin issue no. 12, 1998