By Alessandro Parodi and Marie Mannes Dec 1 (Reuters) – Tesla saw November registrations in France, Denmark and Sweden halve from a year earlier, as the U.S. EV maker continued to struggle to stem market share losses in Europe despite rolling out new versions of its best-selling Model Y, but Norway bucked the trend with […]
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Tesla plummets in key European markets in November but new car sales jump in Norway
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By Alessandro Parodi and Marie Mannes
Dec 1 (Reuters) – Tesla saw November registrations in France, Denmark and Sweden halve from a year earlier, as the U.S. EV maker continued to struggle to stem market share losses in Europe despite rolling out new versions of its best-selling Model Y, but Norway bucked the trend with record sales in the month.
Monthly registrations, a proxy for sales, slumped by 58% in France to 1,593 vehicles sold, by 59% to 1,466 cars in Sweden and by 49% to 534 cars in Denmark, official data showed.
But in Norway, they almost trebled to 6,215 cars, beating the country’s annual sales record with one month to spare.
Tesla’s slowdown in Europe began late last year, after its CEO Elon Musk publicly praised right-wing political figures, setting off protests across the region.
In November, a large fire at a Tesla dealership in Southern France prompted investigators to launch a criminal probe, local media reported.
Musk has since toned down political commentary, but Tesla’s European business has not recovered, pointing to deeper challenges.
TESLA NOVELTY FADES AMID GROWING COMPETITION
Analysts pointed to growing competition in a crowded European market, especially from new entrants from China, and Tesla’s aging lineup.
Consumer sentiment has weakened. Data analytics and advisory firm Escalent said in a study seen by Reuters on Monday that 38% of more than 2,000 respondents to a survey in Europe’s five largest car markets feel the brand’s novelty has worn off and it trails competitors on design, quality and emotional appeal.
While Musk spent much of this year focused on the carmaker’s robotics pursuits and winning shareholder approval for his freshly minted $1 trillion pay package, Tesla tried to win back buyers by launching a refreshed Model Y earlier this year.
Only a handful of cheaper Model Ys, priced at 40,000 euros ($46,468) in Germany, reached European markets at the end of November.
Model Y sales dropped by 67% to 426 cars in Sweden and jumped 19% to 3,648 cars in Norway, data by Mobility Sweden and the Norwegian Road Federation showed.
In Denmark, November registrations of the Model Y plummeted by 74% to 206 units, according to data by Bilstatistik.dk, which runs Scandinavia’s largest car database, while those of the Model 3 increased by 29% to 326 cars, making it the country’s 8th most-sold model, Mobility Denmark said.
Tesla’s Chinese competitor BYD also saw a drop in registrations in November, falling 51% in Sweden and 50.3% in Norway. Its sales rose 6% in Denmark.
($1 = 0.8608 euros)
(Reporting by Alessandro Parodi in Gdansk, Marie Mannes in Stockholm and Stine Jacobsen in Copenhagen; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta, Bernadette Baum and Louise Heavens)