Tesla, sales still in free fall in Northern Europe and France
Tesla recorded its seventh consecutive month of declining sales in Sweden, Denmark and France. Chinese competition, the absence of new models and regulatory difficulties in Europe take their toll.
2' min read
2' min read
Tesla's sales in Sweden, Denmark and France continue to decline. In July, for the seventh month in a row, the Californian brand experienced a sharp slowdown, with figures confirming an increasingly structural downward trend. Only Norway bucked the trend, but it was less than a thousand vehicles. Meanwhile, the stock, down this week and -23% since the start of the year, is also in the red in the premarket.
In Sweden, registrations plummeted 86 per cent from a year ago: just 163 new Teslas. In Denmark, the drop was 52 per cent (336 units), while in France, sales fell by 27 per cent (1,307 vehicles), according to official figures from the industry associations. In Norway, on the other hand, +83.4% for 838 cars.
The most penalised model is the Model Y, once the brand's best-seller: -88% in Sweden and -49% in Denmark. Yet it is precisely on this electric SUV that Tesla is focusing to revive sales, with an updated version expected in the coming months. For now, however, difficulties prevail.
Behind the slowdown are intertwined industrial and political reasons. CEO Elon Musk recently admitted that 'European regulations on autonomous driving make it difficult to sell the Model Y', referring to the 'supervised' assisted driving mode, which has not yet been approved in several EU countries. "In Europe," he said, "it will be easier when we can offer customers the same experience as in the United States.
Added to this difficulty is increasingly fierce competition, especially from Chinese manufacturers, who are bringing more affordable electric vehicles to market. Tesla, at the moment, has no new entry-level models on the way before the last quarter of the year, when production is expected to start on a compact around $25,000. The rest of the range, meanwhile, is starting to show signs of time.
