Tesla suffered a major decline in sales in Scandinavia and France in February, eroding its market share, as the electric vehicle manufacturer faced challenges in retaining brand loyalty, partly due to CEO Elon Musk's foray into U.S. politics and his role in President Donald Trump's administration.
Musk has already divided Americans by helping Trump slash government spending in moves denounced as illegal and immoral by critics. Now the controversy is ricocheting against his pioneering brand once adored by environmentally conscious buyers.
Tesla, whose cars topped sales charts in Norway, Sweden and Denmark in 2023 and 2024, has slipped this year behind rivals with newer model lineups, such as Volkswagen and Toyota, registration data showed on Monday.
A total of 613 new Teslas were registered in Sweden last month, down 42% year-over-year, while registrations in Norway and Denmark each fell by 48% to 917 and 509 cars respectively, despite rising overall auto demand in the three countries, including for EVs.
Tesla registrations in France also declined by 45% over the first two months of the year compared to the same period in 2024, data published on Saturday by French car body PFA showed, continuing this year's negative trend in Europe.
Last year, the company's Model Y was the most sold EV in France and the 10th most sold car, while this year, it's only 27th so far and outpaced by the electric Peugeot 208, Renault 5 and Citroen e-C3.
Tesla sales plunged 45% in Europe in January, according to research firm Jato Dynamics, even as overall electric vehicle sales rose. That followed a report of falling sales in California, its biggest U.S. market, and the first annual drop globally for the company last year.
The sales numbers dropped roughly 60% in Germany in January, more than the average decline for the more than two-dozen European countries surveyed.
Musk's entry into politics, his sweeping cuts to the U.S. federal workforce and endorsing of far-right political views in Europe has triggered "Tesla Takedown" demonstrations in the United States and calls for boycotts elsewhere.
A handful of anti-Tesla actions have occurred in Europe as well.
A dozen Teslas were torched near the southern city of Toulouse in France on Sunday night in what authorities are treating as an arson attack, the prosecutor's office said.
Eight cars were left burned out and another four were badly damaged amid evidence the blaze was "not at all accidental," said the prosecutor's office on Monday.
The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In Norway, where almost all new cars are fully electric, Tesla's share of overall car sales has slipped to 8.8% year-to-date from a market-leading 18.9% for the full-year 2024 and 20% in 2023.
Analysts say Musk's political endeavors – including backing far-right parties in Europe and sharing conspiracy theories online – could isolate Tesla's traditionally liberal market base.
Held back also by an ageing vehicle lineup, the company faces a test in the coming months as it prepares to introduce an upgraded version in Europe of its Model Y midsize SUV, the Scandinavian region's bestselling car in the last two years.
But it was unclear if Tesla would recapture its former position as the people's car of choice, the Norwegian Road Federation (OFV), an industry group, said on Monday.
"The brand has had a unique market position in Norway for several years. Whether that will continue is uncertain, because there is a lot of unrest and noise around Tesla and Elon Musk," the OFV said in a statement.
In Denmark, a growing number of prospective buyers seeking advice from the Danish Federation of Motorists (FDM) said they were looking for alternatives to the Texas-based automaker.
"A lot of people start by saying, 'I want to buy an electric car, but I don't want it to be a Tesla.' The political consumer has always been there, but it's more pronounced with Tesla now," FDM chief adviser Ilyas Doğru said.
Long-admired as a successful industrialist, Musk himself appeared to have become the car brand's biggest enemy, said Atle Falch Tuverud, editor-in-chief of Norwegian auto trade publication BilNytt.
"There is little doubt that Tesla has now lost some of its existing customers, and it is absolutely certain that they have lost some of their potential customers," Tuverud said, adding it could take several months to fully assess the impact on sales.
An initial answer may come in the months from March to June this year, when shipments begin of the redesigned Model Y, and the company could also opt to compete more aggressively on price, FDM's Doğru said.
