By Alessandro Parodi
(Reuters) -Tesla’s new car sales in Britain and Germany plummeted to their lowest in over two years in April, falling 62% and 46% year-on-year respectively, even as demand for electric vehicles rose in both countries, national data showed on Tuesday.
Sales of billionaire Elon Musk’s EV cars also plunged to multi-year lows in some other key European markets last month, national data showed last week, as Tesla prepares to counter competition from European and Chinese EV brands with the launch of a revamped Model Y.
The brand’s sales in Germany dropped to 885 cars in April, a fourth month of declines this year amounting to a cumulative year-to-date drop of over 60%, data from road traffic agency KBA showed.
Britain had bucked the gloomy European trend for Tesla so far this year, but last month, 512 new cars were sold, down from 1,352 in April 2024, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
This led to a year-to-date EV market share of 9.3% for Tesla in the UK, data from research group New AutoMotive showed. That’s down from 12.5% a year ago, according to the research group’s data.
Tesla’s websites in Germany and Britain say that estimated deliveries of the revamped Model Y will start in June, but it will take a couple of months before sales data shows if the updated version has won back customers.
Musk’s closeness to U.S. President Donald Trump, his politics and efforts to eliminate waste at U.S. governmental agencies have spurred protests against him and the company, as well as vandalism at its showrooms and charging stations across the U.S. and Europe.
After the brand’s first-quarter global sales and profit missed estimates, Musk said two weeks ago he would cut back on the time he devotes to the Trump administration and spend more time running the company.
Overall car sales in Germany dropped by 0.2% in April, but those of electric vehicles grew by 53.5%, KBA said.
In Britain, battery-electric car registrations increased by 8.1% in the month, while total car sales were down 10.4%, the SMMT data showed.
EV sales in the UK slowed from the previous month due to broader economic conditions, New AutoMotive said.
However, Volkswagen’s battery-electric sales in the country jumped 194% to 2,314 vehicles last month, while registrations of China’s BYD were up 311% to 1,419 cars, the research group said.
(Reporting by Alessandro Parodi and Amir Orusov in Gdansk, Yamini Kalia and Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru; Editing by Mark Potter and Bernadette Baum)
