Tesla's European Sales Slump Is No Blip

Tesla's troubles in Europe stretched into an eighth straight month in August, as the electric vehicle maker faced a combination of rising competition, political controversy, and weakening brand loyalty. Fresh registration data from France, Denmark, and Sweden shows Tesla's revamped Model Y failed to reverse the sales slide. In August, new Tesla registrations plunged 47% in France, 84% in Sweden, 50% in the Netherlands, and 42% in Denmark compared to a year prior—all while the broader auto markets in those countries were growing, per Reuters and the Economic Times.

Norway bucked the trend with Tesla registrations up 21%, but Chinese rival BYD stole the spotlight with a 218% registration surge. Similarly, registrations in Spain, which offers EV subsidies of up to 7,000 euros, grew 161% to 1,435 vehicles, while BYD's sales rose more than 400% to 1,827 cars, per ET. Tesla's larger markets in Germany and the UK have yet to report for August, but both have also experienced declines this year.

Analysts point to several factors driving Tesla's woes: a dated lineup with no new mass-market models since 2020, an influx of fresh EVs from Chinese and legacy automakers, and a perception that CEO Elon Musk is out of touch, per Reuters. In July, he insisted there were "no issues with Tesla volumes on the European market" despite the company's market share in western Europe dropping to 1.7% in the first half of the year.