Tesla's UK sales lowest in over two years in April as Europe snubs Musk
By Alessandro Parodi
(Reuters) -Tesla's new car sales in Britain plummeted 62% year-on-year in April to their lowest in over two years, even as demand for electric vehicles rose, data from research group New AutoMotive showed on Tuesday.
Sales of billionaire Elon Musk's EV cars also plunged to multi-year lows in some other key European markets last month, national data showed last week, as Tesla prepares to counter competition from European and Chinese EV brands with the launch of a revamped Model Y.
Britain had bucked the gloomy European trend for Tesla this year, but in April the automaker sold just 536 new cars there, down from 1,404 in the same month of 2024, leading to a year-to-date EV market share for the brand of 9.3%.
Tesla's website in Britain says that estimated deliveries of the revamped Model Y will start in June, but it will take a couple of months before sales data show if the updated version has won back customers.
Musk's closeness to U.S. President Donald Trump and his embrace of far-right politics in Europe have led to protests against him and the company, as well as vandalism at its showrooms and charging stations across the U.S. and Europe.
After the brand's first-quarter global sales and profit missed estimates, Musk said two weeks ago he would cut back on the time he devotes to the Trump administration and spend more time running the company.
Overall battery-electric car registrations in Britain increased by 6.9% in April, slowing from the previous month due to broader economic conditions, New AutoMotive said.
Volkswagen's battery-electric sales in Britain jumped 194% to 2,314 vehicles last month, while registrations of China's BYD were up 311% to 1,419 cars.
(Reporting by Alessandro Parodi. Editing by Mark Potter)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
19 minutes ago
- New York Post
Musk's father says Elon made a mistake going nuclear on Trump, predicts prez ‘will prevail'
Tech mogul Elon Musk's father lamented his son's scorched-earth war of words with President Trump as a 'mistake' and warned that the US leader would ultimately prevail in the nasty spat. Errol Musk, who has had a strained relationship with his billionaire son, explained that Elon had been under tremendous stress and was optimistic the two personality giants could patch things up. 'They've been under a lot of stress for five months. And it gives them a break. You know, they've had to get rid of all the opposition, try and put the country back on track, and do normal things and so forth,' Errol told Russian media, per Izvestia. 'They're very tired and stressed. And so you can expect something like this. It's not unusual,' the elder Musk added. 'Trump will prevail. He's the president. He was elected as the president, so Elon made a mistake, I think. But he's tired. He's stressed.' Elon had slowly begun to split with Trump and Republicans publicly last month over the One Big Beautiful Bill Act due to his concerns about its impact on the deficit. 4 Errol Musk seemed optimistic that President Trump and Elon Musk could reconcile. 4 Elon Musk's time as a special government employee ended last month. AFP via Getty Images It started with some swipes during an interview on CBS's 'Sunday Morning Show.' Then, Musk ramped up his attacks on the marquee GOP megabill, ripping it as 'pork-filled' and a 'disgusting abomination.' Finally, last Thursday, Musk went nuclear on Trump. The world's richest man argued that without his help, 'Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate.' At one point, Musk appeared to back impeachment against Trump and then dropped a 'big bomb,' claiming that the president was in the Epstein files, in a since-deleted post. During the epic public feud, Trump threatened to sever lucrative federal contracts with Musk's companies and the tech baron suggested he'd decommission the Dragon spacecraft, the government's main method of getting into orbit, before reversing course. 4 Elon Musk and President Trump had forged a public alliance to trim government waste and bloat. AP Musk's time as a special government employee wrapped up late last month, and Trump gave him a chummy send-off in the Oval Office. Musk had seemingly also grown incensed after the president withdrew his nomination of Jared Isaacman to helm NASA. 'Elon wants to stick to the principles of not giving in to the Democrats [and] their stupid ideas,' Errol added. 'It's normal, it's just a small thing, [it] will be over tomorrow.' Errol was in Moscow to address the Future Forum 2050, an event to promote Russia's development championed by diehard nationalist Alexander Dugin, who is known as 'Vladimir Putin's philosopher.' Trump has publicly downplayed the breakup with Musk, but warned the billionaire that there will be 'consequences' if he starts dipping into his deep pockets to help Democrats in the 2026 midterm elections. Elon has expressed openness to working to patch things up with the president and Vice President JD Vance had been optimistic they could bring the tech baron back into the fold. 'No, I don't have any plans,' Trump replied when asked by reporters if he had plans to reconcile with Musk, adding that he's 'not really interested' in such efforts. 'I'm not thinking about Elon. You know, I just wish him well.' 4 Elon Musk went berserk on President Trump last week as tensions boiled over. The president suggested that Musk had 'lost his mind' and gone 'crazy.' Privately, Trump bashed Musk as a 'big-time drug addict,' according to the Washington Post. Musk denies being addicted to drugs. Errol, who has a frosty relationship with his son, has long been a backer of Trump. The South African engineer had briefly been a politician, serving on the Pretoria City Council as an Independent and then later a member of the Progressive Federal Party, which opposed apartheid.
Yahoo
23 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Terrifying Footage Shows Self-Driving Tesla Get Confused by the Sun, Mow Down Innocent Grandmother
For years, tech entrepreneurs have been preaching that self-driving cars will soon deliver us from our hellscape of vehicular crashes and horrible, fiery deaths. Among the biggest advocates for the safety of autonomous vehicles has been Elon Musk, whose promises of a fully self-driving Tesla have been wearing on for a decade. Despite having provided no proof that Teslas can operate at a level required for "autonomous driving," the tech mogul's robotaxi service is mere days away from going live in Austin. Already, driverless Model Ys are testing out Austin-area roads full of living, breathing humans — which is why it's all the more horrifying that a self-driving Tesla was responsible for the brutal death of a Phoenix-area grandmother. The fatal incident happened in 2023, and was the first pedestrian death attributed to a Tesla's self-driving software. Bloomberg recently released the crash footage, which shows a Tesla screaming down the highway into a blinding Arizona sunset. Moments before the fatality, the vehicle reacts to a man waving it down by veering to the left, though failing to slow down. The vehicle then adjusts to the right, straight onto the 71-year old woman, who was helping direct traffic after a previous accident shut down the highway ahead. Though there was a driver in the Tesla at the time who should have intervened, it's not known whether they were implicated in the woman's death. Though all carmakers are required to report any incident where self-driving software is involved, Tesla took seven months to submit the crash details to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA.) The fatality brought about a federal investigation into Tesla's "Full Self-Driving" software, which in spite of its name requires constant supervision, and has been found responsible for multiple crashes in the past few years. One of the major issues with Tesla's self-driving software is the sensor it uses to detect other objects. Instead of a LiDAR system like Tesla's ascendant competitor Waymo, Musk has chosen to barrel ahead with visual cameras alone — even as evidence grows suggesting some major safety flaws with that strategy. Meanwhile, Tesla is actively hiring engineers to work on "sensor cleaning systems," presumably to patch over the sensor issues that led to a combined 467 crashes by 2024. None of it bodes well for the company's Austin takeover, which Tesla's own internal documents anticipate will be a disaster. Bryant Walker Smith, a lawyer and transportation engineer, told Bloomberg that "they are claiming they will be imminently able to do something — true automated driving — that all evidence suggests they still can't do safely." And everyone on the roads will be a test subject. More on self-driving cars: Watch in Horror as Cybertruck Driver Plays "Grand Theft Auto" While Screaming Down Highway on Self-Driving Mode
Yahoo
33 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Musk, Trump Feud Doesn't Change Bullish Tesla View: Dan Ives
Dan Ives, managing director at Wedbush Securities, examines the feud between President Donald Trump and Elon Musk and says this is an opportunity for investors as Tesla is "way oversold." Sign in to access your portfolio
