Tesla’s UK car sales rose last month, an industry body said Wednesday, countering losses elsewhere in Europe which some analysts link to boss Elon Musk’s closeness to President Donald Trump.
Almost 4,000 new Tesla electric cars hit British roads in February, up nearly 21 percent compared with one year earlier, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
That’s in sharp contrast to the European Union, where Tesla sales almost halved in January, recent data showed.
Germany on Wednesday recorded a sharp drop in Tesla sales for February, down more than 76 percent year-on-year.
The billionaire owner vocally backed the far-right AfD during the country’s recent election campaign.
For the UK, overall sales of full electric vehicles rose sharply in February, the SMMT reported — ahead of the introduction in April of a tax on cars sold for more than £40,000 ($50,000).
Tesla’s “sales increase is below that of other brands though, suggesting that Musk’s hugely divisive comments and actions may still be having an impact” in the UK, Birmingham Business School professor David Bailey told AFP.
“I think it’s a case of ‘a rising tide lifting all boats’, including Tesla,” he added.
Investors have feared boycotts and buyer backlash over Musk’s divisive behaviour as an advisor to the US president.
The automaker has lost more than one third of its market value since mid-December as Musk has deepened his association with the polarising US leader.
Its share price was hit also by sales in China slumping 49 percent in February year-on-year, despite a strong increase in electric and hybrid cars in the country.
Tesla’s global deliveries dropped one percent in 2024.