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Yahoo
03-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Elon Musk's European crisis deepens—initial April sales numbers prove devastating for Tesla
Four key EV friendly European markets reported high double-digit drops in volumes in April with only Norway showing some improvement. So far there has been little sign that the newer Model Y is rekindling interest in Elon Musk's brand on the continent. Europe, the world's second largest market for electric vehicles after China, appears to be closed for business to Elon Musk's Tesla. The beleaguered CEO may regret returning to the automaker's headquarters in Austin this month, as the first batch of national markets published car sales figures that show the brand remains in freefall on the continent. Whether it's France or Sweden, the Netherlands or Switzerland, registrations of new Tesla vehicles—which lag retail sales slightly—continued to plummet at high double-digit rates. Now their sales numbers are dwindling so much they risk becoming meaningless compared to the United States or China. Tesla investors have been hoping its historically weak first quarter was an anomaly due to a changeover from the older version of the Model Y on sale in Europe since late 2021 to the newer one complete with some fresher styling to the front and rear. In advance of the 'Juniper' derivative's March launch, all four of Tesla's factories shut down their Model Y assembly line for retooling in February, greatly reducing availability and contributing to last week's historically weak Q1 results. The midsize crossover has been the best-selling car of any kind worldwide for two years straight and accounts for about two-thirds of the brand's volume, so any changeover was bound to distort monthly sales figures. But Tesla's European business appears to be in full-blown meltdown. In France, its volume sank 59% to 863 cars for the month. Sweden, where there is a labor dispute between Tesla and the local IF Metall trade union, saw its sales plummet 81% to just 203 vehicles in an otherwise growing market. In the Netherlands, Tesla sold just 382 cars in April, a 74% dropoff. Switzerland was also a disaster—down 50% to 227 cars. All these markets are relatively wealthy, have a sizeable EV public charging network and enjoy a penetration rate for EVs far higher than Spain, Italy or most of Eastern Europe. In other words, they tend to be where conditions for Tesla are most favorable. Instead the lone bright spot was Norway, where volumes grew 12% to 976 cars. To put that into perspective, the grand total 19,771 new Tesla vehicles registered across all five markets for the first four months of this year is roughly the equivalent of two weeks of sales in China. It's important to note these figures could still be affected by a slow production ramp and limited availability of the Model Y Juniper. Moreover, a number of car markets have yet to publish their figures. Chief among them are Germany and the UK, respectively the largest and second-largest in Europe. But for a CEO who has been in the news constantly for all the wrong reasons—whether cheating at video games and lying about it, allegedly failing to pay child support for some of his 14 children, or attacking the judiciary branch for attempts to limit President Donald Trump's power—the risk remains that he's inflicted permanent damage on Tesla. Musk's political activism in Europe has gone down poorly with local customers. The Tesla CEO has intervened primarily on behalf of white nationalists like English Defense League founder Tommy Robinson in the UK—someone so far to the right even Trump ally Nigel Farage wants nothing to do with him. In Germany, the picture is little different. Elon Musk vociferously backed the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) in the recent election, a party that on Friday was ruled a right-wing extremist movement in its entirety and no longer just its fringe elements. This story was originally featured on
Local Sweden
03-04-2025
- Automotive
- Local Sweden
Swedish insurer Folksam drops $160 million Tesla stake over labour rights
Folksam said that Tesla's approach to its employees' rights to unionise was "problematic" given its investment criteria, and that attempts to influence the company as a shareholder had been ineffective. "Unfortunately, no improvement has been seen and a decision has therefore been taken to divest the holding," Folksam said in a statement. Folksam told AFP in an email that the market value of the holdings was about 1.6 billion kronor ($160 million). The electric carmaker has been involved in a labour dispute with Swedish unions since 2023. In late October of that year, the metal workers union IF Metall launched a strike against Tesla over its refusal to sign a collective wage agreement, and some 130 mechanics at 10 Tesla repair shops in seven cities walked off the job. IF Metall then extended the strike to include work on Teslas at other repair shops which served multiple brands. The strike then grew into a larger conflict between Tesla and almost a dozen unions seeking to protect Sweden's labour model, including postal workers, dock workers and even spreading to neighbouring Nordic countries. Advertisement Negotiated sector by sector, collective agreements with unions are the basis of the Nordic labour market model. Guaranteeing wages and working conditions, they cover almost 90 percent of all employees in Sweden and 80 percent in Denmark. Tesla chief Elon Musk has long rejected calls to allow the company's employees worldwide to unionise. Musk's close cooperation with US President Donald Trump has also led to calls for boycotts against Tesla. Acts of vandalism against charging stations and the brand's dealerships has increased, while several protests were held on Saturday outside retail locations in North America and Europe. In Sweden, Tesla sales declined 63.9 percent in March and 55.2 percent in the first three months of the year, according to Mobility Sweden.
Local Sweden
01-04-2025
- Business
- Local Sweden
Why the pay rise negotiated by Sweden's industrial unions matter
Sweden's industrial unions have agreed a 6.4 percent pay rise with employers, split over two years. But did you know that this is important even if you work in another industry? Advertisement What's happened? Sweden's industrial unions and employers have struck a new deal, setting the benchmark of salary increases at 6.4 percent over the coming two years, or in other words 3.4 percent this year and another 3 percent next year. The industrial unions? What are those? Sweden's five industrial unions are IF Metall, Unionen, Sveriges ingenjörer, GS and Livs, which represent the metal, grocery, engineering and forestry industries, among others. The unions were originally calling for a 4.2 percent pay rise for 2025, but later agreed on 6.4 percent to be split over two years. I'm not a member of any of these unions. Why is this important for me? Essentially, the industrial unions are responsible for setting the mark, or märket in Swedish, which is the percentage pay rise demand which provides the foundation for negotiations with employers. Crucially, the mark doesn't just apply to employees covered by the industrial unions, but all of the other unions in Sweden will generally adopt the same figure when negotiating their pay rises with employer organisations. This is because the industrial unions are considered to represent the industries most affected by international competition, so they're best placed to determine a fair pay rise. Advertisement Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Depending on who you ask, this is both good and bad. It means that a few unions have a lot of power and influence when deciding the mark, which other unions just have to follow. Although there's no specific law saying that unions have to follow the mark set by the industrial unions, it's the de facto rule for agreement negotiations. This means that industries outside of the industrial unions who want a higher pay rise – such as the Transport Union in 2025 – are often left without the power to negotiate this by themselves. What they can do to mitigate this is agree on other benefits, like a higher minimum wage for their specific industry, shorter working hours or increased holiday. There's also nothing to stop them from negotiating pay rises above the mark, although employer organisations may argue that the industries have set the mark and refuse to go above it. The fact that the mark is set in percent is also not ideal, as it widens the gap between high and low earners. So does this mean I'll definitely be getting a 6.4 percent pay rise over the next few years? Not quite. The employer organisations have agreed to offer this pay rise to employees, but that's employees as a whole rather than employees individually. Some collective bargaining agreements have what are called individgarantier (individual guarantees), which do guarantee a specific minimum salary increase for each employee, but this varies depending on the agreement and the workplace. Advertisement You can try to negotiate a larger pay rise than the 6.4 percent agreed by the unions by, for example, highlighting the fact that you've performed well over the year, taken on new challenges or gained new skills. You could also be given a lower salary increase, or even none at all (which is known as being nollad or "zeroed"), in which case your employer will need to provide information as to why, based on factors like your performance and skills, rather than things like financial difficulties in the company. They also have to explain the salary criteria and help you develop a plan for how you can meet them. What if I don't have a collective bargaining agreement? If you don't have a collective bargaining agreement then you'll be responsible for negotiating your own pay rise, but you can always refer to the mark set by the unions as a benchmark. If they don't offer you the pay rise you want, remember you can try negotiating for some other benefit instead, such as extra holiday, shorter working hours or more overtime compensation.
