Tesla sales plunge again in Europe as anger at Musk keeps buyers away for 7th month in a row

New York – Elon Musk’s angry Europeans still do not buy his cars of the months after the billionaire predicted a “major rebound” in Tesla sales, the data published on Thursday.

Tesla sales plunged 40% in July in the 27 countries of the European Union compared to the previous year, even if the overall sales of electric vehicles have skyrocketed, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association. Meanwhile, sales of the Chinese rival byd continued to climb quickly, entering 1.1% market share of all car sales during the month against 0.7% of Tesla.

The Tesla action dropped 1.5% in the afternoon trade on Thursday.

Musk has angry many Europeans by doing politics in politics, kissing the far-right candidates, calling a British Prime Minister a “evil tyrant” who belongs to the prison and by telling the Germans that “things will become very, much worse” in their country if they did not vote for the anti-immigrant alternative for the German party. Demonstrations broke out in several cities, including the hanging of the billionaire in effigy in Milan and posters in London comparing it to a Nazi.

The company has several other problems that have harmed sales.

The company is still awaiting European regulatory approval to allow Tesla owners to use its most advanced driver assistance features available in the United States, a big call for buyers. Musk had predicted that the approval of his so-called full-fledged driving software would occur by March this year.

Another blow came from Tesla’s decision to close factories temporarily earlier this year to reorganize a new version of her sporting Y Sport Sport Sport Utility vehicle as best sold

The company hopes that the introduction of cheaper teslas in the last three months of this year will increase sales.

Overall, the company sold 6,600 cars in July in the EU against 11,465 a year ago. The dive occurred despite a 39% increase in sales of electric battery vehicles as a whole.

During the first seven months of the year, Tesla sales dropped by 44%. Throughout this period, as opposed to July only, Tesla was still the market leader EV. It represented 1.1% of European sales of all types – battery, hybrid and gas – against 0.9% for Byd.