Finland applies EU’s type-approval system, which applies to cars, vans, trucks, buses and coaches, which are now covered by fully harmonized EU technical requirements. The Finnish Transport Safety Agency, Trafi, is the responsible body for road safety and type approval authority for vehicles and vehicle parts.
More information on type-approvals can be found at www.trafi.fi
For U.S. made cars, there are few well established agents, which specialize in imports for private citizens, but can be helpful for American companies. These agents are typically used for used older car models.
The adoption of a tax on passenger cars based on carbon dioxide emissions at the beginning of 2008 has turned out to be an effective method of guiding buyers of new vehicles to choosing low-emission cars. The guidance effect is the result of car taxation: the higher the CO2 emissions, the higher the car tax. This explains the drastic drop of US made cars by -46 percent from 2008 to 2009 and the sales has not recovered from those years.
Car tax was raised by about two percent in Finland as of 1 April 2012. The most significant change affected the tax rate schedule. In the new schedule, the minimum tax is 5% and the maximum 50%. The car tax raises the price of motor vehicles significantly in Finland. Its share of an average passenger car with average CO2 emissions is about 25% of the retail price in 2012.
For more information, please visit www.autotuojat.fi
Car tax for used vehicles is scaled based on CO2 emissions of the vehicle, and can vary from 3.8% to 50%, depending on the cylinder capacity of the vehicle. The tax will be reduced in four steps between 2016 and 2019 for cars with CO2 emissions of 141g/km or less. The annual circulation tax is based on CO2 emissions for cars registered since 1 January 2001 (total mass up to 2,500 kg) or 1 January 2002 (total mass above 2,500 kg) respectively and for vans registered since 1 January 2008. Rates vary from €106.21 to €654.44. The excise duties for road traffic fuels are dependent on the energy content and CO2 emissions of the fuel. (Source: CO2 tax overview 2017 by ACEA – European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association)
Current Market Trends & Demand
I 80 I
Today’s trends among Finnish consumers are personified vehicles with individually picked accessories, low-emission vehicles and SUVs. The number of new SUVs in 2017 was almost 30 percent of all new
Barriers
barriers