Is it that people don't buy a lot of cars in Norway? Average income is significantly higher? Different income profile of car buyers specifically? Some kind of social effect, like prestige?
Due to the tax structure on electric vs gas cars in Norway, a similar performing gasoline powered car would cost you at least twice and probably more. For comparison $110000 will just about get you a middle of the line BMW 5 series, and something like entry level BMW M3 coupe will easily set you back in excess of $200000.
And that's before you take into consideration the annual savings due to high gas prices in Norway and no road tax on electric cars.
I don't think it's that recent, I feel like they've been pretty 'wealthy' for a while. Interestingly, NOK-EUR YTD hasn't been that great http://ur1.ca/fuyz4
I have an impression that they're are saving oil/profits for some possible "black day" in the future. And, the "profits" which are shared among all citizens come from high taxes. I might be [partially] wrong though.
Well, a large part of the oil revenues are put into an investment fund because the oil isn't going to last forever. Profits of that fund go into the public budget, though.
According to Wikipedia, there are discussions about how much of the oil revenues should be saved; opponents of using more of them directly say that it would just lead to inflation.
Is it that people don't buy a lot of cars in Norway? Average income is significantly higher? Different income profile of car buyers specifically? Some kind of social effect, like prestige?