Tesla Sales Are Slumping, Even in the Most E.V.-Friendly Place
Elon Musk’s involvement in right-wing politics contributed to a 13 percent drop in global deliveries in the first quarter, including steep declines in places like Norway.
Elon Musk’s involvement in right-wing politics contributed to a 13 percent drop in global deliveries in the first quarter, including steep declines in places like Norway.
If there is anyplace Tesla should be thriving, it’s Norway. Electric vehicles account for more than 90 percent of new car sales in the Scandinavian country, and buyers here are among the most sophisticated in the world when it comes to understanding the nuances of batteries, charging and range.
So it hardly bodes well for Tesla that its sales in Norway have declined more than 12 percent so far this year. Sales for the first three months of the year were even worse in Denmark, France, the Netherlands and Sweden.
In fact, Tesla’s sales have been on a steep downward trend around the world: The company said on Wednesday that its global sales in the first quarter fell 13 percent from a year earlier.
Tesla said that it delivered nearly 337,000 cars during the quarter, down from 387,000 in the first three months of 2024. The tepid sales reflected a number of serious problems at the company, not least a consumer backlash against the prominent role that Elon Musk, the chief executive, is playing in the Trump administration.
Geir Rognlien Elgvin, an urban planner with the City of Oslo, bought his first Tesla in 2013, months after they were introduced in Norway. He has toured the company’s battery Gigafactory in Nevada. He met Mr. Musk when the executive was still mostly known for wanting to address climate change with electric cars and his rocket company, SpaceX.
