EU market, Tesla runs for cover with 'new' Model 3

A few months after its launch in the United States, Tesla is also launching the new economical version of its Model 3 in Europe. The explicit objective is to revive demand in the old continent, weakened by an offer considered by many observers to be unequal to the evolution of the market and competition from Chinese manufacturers, capable of offering increasingly economical electric cars and able to undermine the market share of the Texan carmaker.

Tesla is fighting back: the new move follows the launch of a cheaper Model Y crossover in Europe last October, which, despite the US manufacturer's continuing difficulties on the old continent this year, has been very well received in some individual country-markets, being among the best-selling models.

The new Model 3 Standard, according to the Tesla website that made the news official, has a list price of 37,970 euro in Germany ($44,299.60), 330,056 Norwegian kroner ($32,698) in Norway and 449,990 Swedish kroner ($47,820) in Sweden. In Italy too, the list price is expected to be around 37,000 euro (compared to the previous 42,000 euro, which had been adjusted upwards from the original list). The first deliveries, according to insiders' estimates, should already be available in the first weeks of the year

Meanwhile, following the general slump in Europe (with the exception of Norway and Italy), Tesla car registrations in November were also down in the UK, dropping 19 per cent from 4,680 units a year ago to 3,784, according to preliminary data from research group New AutoMotive. Data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) in turn showed a 17.2 per cent drop. The drop in the UK market over the same period was 6 per cent.