Mercedes, Audi, and Jaguar turn to Norway to sell their first all-electric cars with thousands of reservations

Tesla’s approach to open its vehicles for reservations years ahead of production has proved useful to show demand for electric vehicles.

Now other automakers are implementing the same strategy for their upcoming new electric vehicles… but only in Norway.

We already reported on Audi starting to take reservations with ~$2,500 deposits for the e-tron quattro all-electric SUV in Norway earlier this year. The vehicle is not expected to be available in Europe until next year.

Nonetheless, Audi confirmed that they already have 2,500 reservations, which is significant for a relatively small country, like Norway.

Audi’s all-electric SUV is expected to quickly have some competition from Mercedes’ EQC and Jaguar’s I-Pace, both new all-electric SUVs.

Now we learn that they also both decided to first open reservations in Norway.

Mercedes Norway wrote in a press release (via Dagens Naeringsliv):

“Ever since the Concept EQC appeared during the Paris Motorshow in 2016, our dealers have been approached by customers who want to reserve the upcoming model. We have been working on the factory for a long time to meet the demand and today, as the first market in the world, we launch the reservation process that many have been waiting for, “

They claim that over 1,000 people placed a reservation with a 20,000 kroner (~$2,500) deposit within the first half-hour. That’s despite not even having an official price yet.

The all-electric SUV is expected to be available in Norway in 2018 and it will have over 200 miles of range.

The vehicle will be Mercedes’ first all-electric vehicle built to be electric from the ground up – just like the I-Pace for Jaguar.

And just like Mercedes and Audi, the British automaker also turned to Norway to open the reservation process for its upcoming all-electric vehicle.

The company says that 850 customers paid 10,000 kroner (~$1,250) to reserve the I-Pace, which is also expected in Norway next year.

The I-PACE is equipped with a 90 kWh battery pack with a range of “over 500 km” NEDC-rated – approximately 220 miles on EPA test cycles.

As we recently reported, Norway has been a leader in electric car adoption for years now, but this year brought them to a new level as they keep beating new records with electric cars reaching a record 42% of Norway’s total new car sales in June.

With automakers already focusing their efforts to market their upcoming EVs in Norway, it wouldn’t be surprising if next year’s results dwarf this year’s records.