Tesla Inc's sales across Europe almost halved last month, as demand appeared to wane in connection with repeated forays into the continent’s politics by CEO Elon Musk.
In January, 9,945 Teslas were sold across Europe, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, marking a 45% slump year on year.
This slump was not seen in the rest of the market, with overall sales of new battery EV cars climbing 34% to 124,341 in the month, showing the tumbling demand for just Musk’s marque.
BEV sales rose 54% in Germany, fell 0.5% in France, but were up 37% in Belgium and 28% in the Netherlands.
Hybrid-electric car sales increased 18.4% to 290,014, representing 34.9% of the EU market share, with demand growing fast in France (up 52%), Spain (23.5%), Germany (14%) and Italy (11%), while plug-in hybrids sales declined 8.5% to 61,406.
Since backing Donald Trump's US Presidency bid, the Tesla CEO has repeatedly voiced his opinions about goings-on in Europe, including backing the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party ahead of last weekend’s German elections and dubbing the European Union “undemocratic”.
A number of European companies and private individuals have been experiencing “Tesla shame” and questioning ownership of the company’s cars, a Dutch newspaper reported recently.
It's not just Europe where sales have been flagging, China, Tesla’s largest market, saw an 11.5% January sales drop, while protests were planned outside US showrooms in the past weekend.
Petrol car registrations in the EU declined 18.9% to in the month, with sales in France plummeting 28%, 24% in Germany, 17% in Italy and 11$% in Spain.
Overall, new EU car registrations declined 2.6%.
Last year, new car registrations rose slightly, increasing 0.8% to around 10.6 million units, with petrol cars at a 33.3% share, followed by hybrid-electric cars at 30.9% and BEVs taking a 13.6% market share.
Shares of Tesla took a hit on Tuesday afternoon in New York, down 8.4% ahead of the closing bell.