Swedish insurer Folksam has sold off its $160 million stake in Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA), citing deepening concerns over the carmaker’s stance on labour rights.
The insurer said Tesla’s refusal to recognise unions or sign collective wage agreements ran counter to its investment criteria. Shareholder engagement, Folksam added, had failed to change the company’s position.
The decision comes as Tesla faces a widening labour dispute in Sweden, where a strike launched by metalworkers in 2023 has snowballed into a multi-union standoff.
Postal workers, dock workers and even unions in neighbouring Nordic countries have joined the action, defending the region’s collective bargaining model that underpins most employment contracts.
The fallout has hurt Tesla’s brand and performance. Swedish sales dropped nearly 64% in March and 55% in the first quarter, according to Mobility Sweden.
And the pain isn’t isolated. New data from across Europe show a sharp decline in March registrations: down 37% in France, 56% in Denmark, 50% in the Netherlands, and 12.5% in Norway. Across France, Tesla’s first-quarter sales fell 41%.
It’s a troubling backdrop ahead of Tesla’s quarterly delivery numbers, due Wednesday.
Analysts expect the EV maker to have sold 377,592 vehicles - just over 2% below last year’s figure.
Europe is Tesla’s third-largest market after China and the US, and continued weakness there casts doubt over Elon Musk’s forecast for a “return to growth” in 2024.
Figure from China on Wednesday morning showed deliveries came in at 78,828, up from 30,688, according to preliminary PCA data.
The shares are down around 1% pre-market at $265.98 and have tumbled just under 30% year to date amid a backlash against CEO Elon Musk, an ill-advised gesture and his involvement with the Trump Administration's Department of Government Efficiency.