TESLA’S sales plunged across Europe in April, including an 81 per cent drop in Sweden to their lowest level in 2-1/2 years, data showed yesterday, as Europeans buy more Chinese EVs and some protest against CEO Elon Musk’s political views.
The automaker’s sales have dropped for four straight months across much of Europe. For the first quarter, sales of all fully-electric cars rose 28pc in Europe while Tesla’s sales slumped 37.2pc.
In Sweden, Tesla’s new car sales in April plunged 80.7pc to their lowest since October 2022. Its sales in the Netherlands fell 73.8pc to their weakest for that month since 2022 and were down 33pc in Portugal, a bigger drop than the previous month.
Sales in Denmark dropped 67.2pc, data showed on Thursday, while France reported a 59.4pc fall.
The figures will increase doubts about whether the launch of a revamped Model Y in some countries can revive Tesla’s fortunes in Europe.
Car buyers can already order a new Model Y across much of Europe, but Tesla’s websites in Germany, UK, France and Italy all say estimated deliveries will start in June. It will take a couple of months before sales data shows if the updated version of the car has won back consumers.
With production downtime over, its sales may return to grow alongside other EV makers, but each month of underperformance threatens the group’s full-year forecasts, said Will Roberts, head of automotive research at firm Rho Motion.
Meanwhile, the group is offering car loan discounts and other financial incentives for new purchases of its existing models in Norway, Sweden, Germany, Britain and France, in a bid to drum up demand.
Tesla is battling increased competition from traditional automaker rivals, while new Chinese entrants are launching new and often cheaper EVs.
“Tesla’s technological lead has largely been eroded with the current model lineup,” said Andy Leyland, co-founder of supply chain specialist SC Insights. “Competition from both legacy auto and Chinese entrants will be weighing on sales.”
&uuid=(email))