Why Don’t Norwegians Hate Tesla Like the Rest of Europe Does?

The crisis makes doesn’t stop. Tesla sales in Europe fell again in November 2025, confirming a negative trend that has lasted for more than a year.

Data reported by Reuters shows that monthly registrations of Tesla cars – an accurate way of measuring sales – have halved compared to the same month of 2024 in the continent’s main markets: down 58% in France, 59% in Sweden and 49% in Denmark. In Germany, where the car manufacturer controlled by Elon Musk has its only European factory, in the suburbs of Berlin, recorded only 750 vehicles sold in October, less than half the number sold a year earlier.

The big exception to this downward trend is in Norway, where Tesla car registrations almost tripled, to 6,215 units.

The figures for the first 10 months of 2025 reveal a structural crisis. Tesla has lost around 30% of its European sales compared to the same period in 2024, according to data from the Association of European Automobile Manufacturers, the organization which brings together manufacturers in the sector on the continent. Tesla’s market share in the electric car segment fell from 12.6% in May 2024 to 7.2% in May 2025, according to analysis by Schmidt Automotive.

Volkswagen took the lead among electric vehicle makers by selling 133,465 units in the first six months of the year, compared to Tesla’s 108,878, and Chinese maker BYD sold more than twice as many cars as its U.S. rival in October.

Global shockwaves

The reasons for this decline are multiple. Musk’s political positions have alienated a significant portion of his European customer base, particularly in Germany where the entrepreneur has publicly supported Alternative für Deutschland, the German far-right party known as AfD. Elon Musk’s virtual participation in an AfD election rally in January 2025, during which he called on Germans to overcome their guilt over their Nazi past, sparked a wave of boycotts. German companies such as pharmacy chain Rossmann and energy group LichtBlick have announced the sale of their Tesla fleets, while in Poland, Sports Minister Slawomir Nitras called on citizens to boycott the brand.

Then there is the fact that competition has become increasingly fierce. More than 150 electric models produced by European, Chinese, Korean and Japanese manufacturers are available on the European market. As reported once again by Reuters, A survey of more than 2,000 buyers in Europe’s five largest car markets conducted by Escalent found that 38% of respondents believe the Tesla brand has now lost its aura of novelty and quality.

Tesla registrations in Italy also declined for six consecutive months through October, a month in which only 256 cars were sold, 47% fewer than the same month in 2024, according to data from the Italian Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport. In the first 10 months of the year, 9,047 Tesla vehicles were registered in the country, a decrease of 33%. The Italian figure is significant, because in the first five months of 2025 the electric car segment in the country grew by 73%. So the problem is not with the electric vehicle market, but with Tesla itself.

Norwegian reasons

In Norway, however, the data tells a different story. Tesla sold more cars in the Scandinavian country in 2025 than any other manufacturer in national history, surpassing the previous record set by Volkswagen in 2016. As Reuters reports, data released on December 1 by the Norwegian Road Federation, the body that monitors Norwegian road traffic, shows that Tesla registered 28,606 vehicles from January to November, an increase of 34.6 percent compared to the same period in 2024. Tesla now owns 31.2 percent of the entire Norwegian car fleet. walk.

Success is the result of very specific factors. Norway is the country with the highest penetration rate of electric vehicles in the world: in November, 97.6% of new registrations were for battery cars. This record stems from an incentive system built over more than two decades that made electric vehicles cheaper than conventional vehicles through a 25% VAT exemption for cars priced below 500,000 Norwegian crowns; that’s about 42,500 euros or $49,360.

However, November’s rise must also be interpreted in light of an imminent change. The Oslo government announced in the 2026 budget that it plans to lower the tax exemption threshold to 300,000 crowns from next year (€25,500/$29,600), and then remove the benefit completely in 2027. Norwegian consumers therefore rushed to complete their purchases before the new rules came into force.

This story was originally published by WIRED Italia and was translated from Italian.