If there is Tesla everywhere it should be flourishing, it’s Norway. Electric vehicles represent over 90 percent of new cars sales in the Scandinavian country and the buyers here are among the most sophisticated in the world when it comes to understanding the nuances of batteries, loading and reaching.
So it is unlikely to bode well for Tesla that his sales in Norway have decreased more than 12 % so far. Sales for the first three months of the year were even worse in Denmark, France, the Netherlands and Sweden.
In fact, Tesla’s sales had a strong downward tendency all over the world: the company said on Wednesday that its global sales in the first quarter decreased by 13 % compared to the previous year.
Tesla said that he had provided almost 337,000 cars in the quarter, decreasing compared to 387,000 in the first three months of 2024. Tiepid sales reflected a series of serious problems for the company, not least a consumer repercussions against the prominent role that Elon Musk, the CEO, is playing in the Trump administration.
Geir Rognlien Elgvin, an urban planner from the city of Oslo, purchased his first Tesla in 2013, months after they were introduced in Norway. The gigafactory of the company of the company in Nevada made the tour. Mr. Musk met when the manager was still known mostly to want to face climate change with electric cars and his missile company, Spacex.
But while Mr. Musk moved to the right politics, the enthusiasm of Mr. Elgvin went down. And he worried about the company’s data security policy.
Several months ago, he exchanged his Tesla with a battery -powered load bike and a shared electric volkswagen. “I would never have guided a Tesla again,” he said. “It’s a matter of ethics.”
Last year, Tesla represented almost a quarter of cars sales in Norway, much more than any other automotive. But in the first two months of this year Tesla slipped to third place behind Volkswagen and Toyota. Teslas was only 9 % of the new cars sold, less than half of its market share a year earlier.
For Tesla, the decline of the most advanced electric vehicle market in the world is threatening, reporting problems elsewhere. “Norway is always a good place to look to the future,” said Will Roberts, who follows Rho Motion’s electric vehicles, a research company.
There are several explanations for the drop in Tesla sales. The company depends on two models, the Sport Model Y utility vehicle and the Model 3 sedan, for almost all its sales. The cybertruck pickup, the newest and polarizing Tesla model, has been afflicted by the calls and did not sell, as Musk provided.
Tesla once fixed the standard for the range of batteries, the software and the driver assistance technology. But traditional car manufacturers have become more skilled in the construction of electric vehicles and started reaching Tesla in technology. Competitors such as Volkswagen, Volvo, BMW – and, outside the United States, Byd, Xpeng and other Chinese producers – offer a diversified selection of luxury sedans, minivans, pickups and compact cars.
“Tesla practically all these years has been only in Europe and the United States,” said Felipe Munoz, a global analyst of Jato Dynamics, a research company. “It’s no longer the case.”
Part of the drop in sales may be due to buyers who are waiting for an updated version of the Y model, analysts said. The deliveries of that version began in March in Norway, which perhaps explains why the company’s sales last month decreased only 1 % compared to 2024.
But Munoz stressed that the sales of model 3, which were updated in 2023, also decreased, although not so much.
In February, the recordings in Europe of the oldest Y model decreased by 56 percent, while the recordings of model 3 decreased by 14 percent, according to Jato. The drops occurred even if the overall sales of electric vehicles in Europe increased by 25 percent.
The support of Mr. Musk for the right parties in Europe and his role as Cotter in the head of President Trump did not help Tesla’s image. He was at the center of protests in the United States and Europe and his activities have alienated some customers. Buyers of electric vehicles in most countries lean politically.
“I hate Musk, I hate Trump, I hate all this company,” said Kao Leu, a 75 -year -old resident in the Harlem district of New York that protested out of a Manhattan Tesla dealership last week.
In Sweden, the largest insurer in the country, Folksam, declared Wednesday that he sold his participation in the US car manufacturer because Tesla’s approach to employees’ rights violated the company’s investment criteria. Folksam had been invested in Tesla since 2013 and his participation was worth 1.6 billion from Swedish Krona, or $ 160 million.
Many investors are worried about the company’s prospects. The price of Tesla’s actions, down by more than 40 percent compared to the maximum of December, fell by about 4 percent in the first shops on Wednesday.
Mechanics with the SE Metall union is on strike in Sweden for more than a year, for Tesla’s refusal to sign a collective agreement.
More than anger, many Norwegians are ashamed of supporting a company that deny its commitment to making personal transport to the planet and whose managing director depending on which he abandoned the principles of democracy.
Andrea Fresk’s Tesla is full of a thick layer of late winter dirt, a state of abandonment that said that she reflected her ambivalence towards the vehicle that she and her husband took a 10 -year loan to buy in 2019.
After Mr. Musk purchased the Social Media Twitter company, he began to feel more and more shame of having Tesla, but worsened after Mr. Musk became a regular presence in the Trump administration.
“Then it became really difficult to defend from this car,” said Mrs. Fresk, a psychologist for Norwegian public family services.
Some of his friends have already sold their Teslas, he said. But since she and her husband are still paying the car and works without hitches, for now she is not replacing her.
Ribil, the largest used car trader in Norway, has seen an increase in the number of drivers who sell their Teslas in recent months. But this means that prices are low and, despite “Tesla Shame”, sales have been fast.
“I had many customers worried about Tesla,” said William Oestby, a rebellious seller. But when she questions them at a price, range, size and transport capacity they are looking for, she said, Tesla is usually the best offer on offer. “It is difficult to find something that compares,” he said.
That could soon change. Over the next two years, Ford Motor, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and other car manufacturers will introduce their next generation of electric vehicles. These cars, some that will be on sale by the end of this year, will incorporate progress into the battery technology that allow a greater range of driving and a faster charging. These car manufacturers say that their cars will be better than Tesla offers.
Traditional car manufacturers “have made everyone a lot of steps forward,” said Roberts Di Rho Motion. “Previously consumers could have struggled to find other options of
Tesla who really competed. This is not the case. “
Anusha bayya Reports contributed by New York e Henrik Pryser Libell From Oslo.