New registrations of Tesla (TSLA.O) vehicles extended their recovery in several European markets in April, more than doubling in Sweden, France and Denmark while rising in the Netherlands but falling sharply in Norway, Portugal, Italy and Spain.
Tesla's sales in Europe have rebounded strongly so far this year after two consecutive annual declines, helped by an easier comparison base and customers' rising interest in alternatives to combustion‑engine vehicles following a surge in petrol prices triggered by the Iran war.
The world's most valuable automaker by market capitalisation lost almost half its European market share in 2025 due to growing competition, its lack of new models and a reaction to CEO Elon Musk's political views.
The automaker's registrations, a proxy for sales, jumped 111% in Sweden and 102% in Denmark in April, according to data from Mobility Sweden, published on Monday, and data from bilstatistik.dk, published on Friday. Registrations also surged 112% in France and increased 23% in the Netherlands, data published on Friday showed.
By contrast, new registrations dropped 5% in Italy, 47% in Spain, 33% in Portugal and 61% in Norway, data from the Italian transport ministry, industry group ANFAC and ACAP and compiler OFV showed on Monday.
TAX SHIFT DAMPENS NORWAY DEMAND
Norway's battery electric vehicle (BEV) sales were front-loaded into 2025 ahead of a reduction in the tax-free threshold, which came into effect in 2026, causing the market to subsequently slow, said Matthias Schmidt, European autos market analyst at Schmidt Automotive.
The VAT exemption threshold, which previously applied to vehicles with purchase prices up to 500,000 Norwegian crowns ($53,928.12), dropped to 300,000 crowns from January 1, 2026, below the starting price of Tesla's Model Y of 435,060 crowns and Model 3 of 333,217 crowns.
"European EV sales figures are likely to rebound this year owing to a combination of new models, improved performance, and higher gasoline prices," said Andy Leyland, co-founder of supply-chain specialist SC Insights.
However, he said the registration figures were highly dependent on delivery of vehicles from production sites. If vehicles are transported by ocean freight, deliveries may not occur every month, which can lead to highly volatile figures, he said.
Of Tesla's 11 key markets that published monthly sales on Friday and Monday, the Netherlands was the only country to record a drop during the January-April period, at around 18%, Reuters calculations showed.
FUEL PRICES DRIVE BEV INTEREST
April was likely to show the first clear impact of high fuel prices on new BEV registrations, said Rico Luman, senior economist at ING Research.
"There’s a good chance that Germany will show an increase as BEV sales support the market on the back of new subsidies and high fuel prices will probably further drive up interest in BEVs," he added about Europe’s largest market.
Europe's BEV share of new car registrations rose to 20.5% in the first quarter of 2026 from 13.2% a year earlier and is likely to continue edging toward 25% in coming months, he added.
($1 = 9.2716 Norwegian crowns)
