LONDON — Tesla’s sales rout this year in a number of European markets continued in August amid fierce competition from China’s BYD and a backlash against CEO Elon Musk, although Norway, Spain and Portugal bucked the trend.
Tesla has a small lineup and has not released a new mass-market model since the Model Y in 2020, while new Chinese rivals and traditional automakers alike are flooding the market with fresh models.
Registrations of new Tesla cars in France were down 47.3 percent in August from August 2024, while the overall car market grew nearly 2.2 percent, data showed on Monday.
SLUMP A Tesla vehicle is parked outside of a dealership on July 24, 2025, in Austin, Texas. Tesla on Sept. 1 reported a decline in sales in the European market in August in the face of stiff competition from China’s BYD and the backlash against its CEO Elon Musk. AFP PHOTO
Tesla registrations fell more than 84 percent in Sweden where electric vehicle (EV) sales were flat and the overall market was up 6 percent and dropped 42 percent in Denmark. Tesla registrations were down 50 percent in the Netherlands and 4.4 percent in Italy.
Norway, where Tesla has deep roots and virtually all new car sales are electric, saw a 21.3-percent jump in registrations for the US EV maker. But BYD’s registrations jumped 218 percent.
After seven months of declines, Tesla’s registrations in Portugal rose 28.7 percent in August.
And in Spain, which provides EV subsidies of up to 7,000 euros ($8,200), Tesla’s sales rose 161 percent to 1,435 cars from 549 in August 2024. But BYD’s sales rose more than 400 percent to 1,827 cars.
In the year so far, BYD’s sales in Spain have surged 675 percent to 14,181 cars, while Tesla’s sales have risen 11.6 percent to 9,303 vehicles.
“Disappointing Tesla volumes can partially be attributed to a more competitive market environment,” said Matthias Schmidt, European autos market analyst at Schmidt Automotive.
Schmidt said Musk’s insistence during an investor call in July that “there are no issues with Tesla volumes on the European market,” when its market share in western Europe fell to 1.7 percent in the first half of the year from 2.5 percent in 2024, made him sound “delusional.”
Earlier this year, Tesla representatives in Europe argued that the sales decline was largely because production was shifting to a revamped version of the Model Y that had been Europe’s top-selling car in 2023.
Deliveries began across much of Europe in June, but Model Y sales were down 46.5 percent in Denmark in August and 87 percent in Sweden.
Tesla’s competitive problems have been compounded by Musk’s politics he helped bankroll Donald Trump’s US presidential election win last year and has championed European far-right parties — which have sparked a fierce consumer backlash.
Ginny Buckley, CEO of the EV advice website Electrifying.com, said Musk’s influence on the brand had become “increasingly polarizing.”
Over half of those surveyed by Electrifying.com said Musk was putting them off buying a Tesla, signaling that “Tesla’s dominance is no longer a given.”
Andy Leyland, co-founder of supply chain specialist SC Insights, said sales were also being undermined by the low cost of secondhand Tesla EVs since it slashed the price of new cars dramatically in 2023.
Marketcheck, which collects used vehicle data in Britain, said that sales of used Teslas hit a record in July, jumping 270 percent, while the average price of a used Model Y hit a new low, down 41 percent in two years.