English
Europeans aren’t buying Elon Musk’s cars months after the billionaire predicted a “major rebound” in Tesla sales, data released Thursday shows.
Tesla sales plunged 40 per cent in July in the 27 European Union countries compared with the year earlier even as sales overall of electric vehicle soared, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association. Meanwhile, sales of Chinese rival BYD continued to climb fast, grabbing 1.1 per cent market share of all car sales in the month versus Tesla’s 0.7 per cent.
The company has several other problems that have contributed to its plunging sales.
The company is still awaiting European regulatory approval to allow Tesla owners there to use its most advanced driver-assistance features available in the US, a big appeal to buyers. Musk had predicted approval of its so-called Full-Self Driving software was going to happen by March of this year.
Another hit came from Tesla’s decision to close down factories temporarily earlier this year to retool for a new version of its best selling Model Y sport utility vehicle
The company is hoping the introduction of cheaper Teslas in the last three months of this year will boost sales.
Overall, the company sold 6,600 cars in July in the EU versus 11,465 a year ago. The plunge came despite a 39 per cent surge in battery electric vehicle sales overall.
For the first seven months of the year, Tesla sales have fallen 44 per cent. For that entire period, as opposed to just July, Tesla was still the EV market leader. It accounted for 1.1 per cent of European sales of all types of battery, hybrid and gas powered versus 0.9 per cent for BYD.
(With Inputs From Agency)
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