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Tesla faces declining sales over CEO's right-wing politics

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Norway bucks trend, with 24% sales growth in first half of

year

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Company helped by deep ties to Norway, analysts say

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Tesla launches promotions in face of growing competition

By Marie Mannes

SKI, Norway, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Like many Norwegians,

Espen Lysholm is not a fan of Elon Musk these days,

uncomfortable with the world's richest man's lurch into

right-wing politics.

He does, however, love Musk's cars.

"I'll be honest that it's a bit of a double-edged sword

having a Tesla," said Lysholm, who bought a Model Y in May - his

third new Tesla in less than a decade.

Musk's politics - he helped bankroll Donald Trump's U.S.

election win last year and has championed European far-right

parties - have sparked a fierce consumer backlash.

But while that anger has provoked acts of vandalism against

Tesla cars and dealerships and pushed once loyal customers,

particularly in Europe, to ditch the brand, sales in tiny Norway

are booming, at least for now.

"I did think a bit around all that's going on with the

company and the brand," said Lysholm, who works at a cartech

company in the city of Trondheim.

"But it's really all about the charging infrastructure and

the seamless technology of the car. No one comes even close."

In the first half of this year as Tesla sales plunged by

half or more in Germany, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands,

they grew by 24% year-on-year in Norway, making the country of

5.5 million the company's second-largest European market.

Tesla and Musk did not respond to Reuters' requests for

comment.

Reuters interviews with Norwegian Tesla owners as well as EV

industry experts highlight a 12-year relationship between the

Nordic nation and the carmaker that, despite recent signs of

strain, has bred brand loyalty and insulated against blowback.

"In many ways, you could say Norway helped build Tesla,"

said Christina Bu, secretary general of the Norwegian EV

Association.

"Everyone in Norway knows someone who owns a Tesla," she

said. "It's more personal."

'NORWAY ROCKS'

Though small - its market represented less than 12% of

Tesla's European sales in the first half of the year and a tiny

fraction of the company's global revenues - Norway holds

symbolic importance for the brand.

It was the first country outside of North America to receive

Tesla's flagship EV, the Model S, in 2013. And the company

helped build Norway into the world's leader in EV adoption.

Tesla built its first Supercharger network outside of North

America in Norway, locking in new customers with the promise of

a vast web of fast-charging stations for their EVs.

In return, Norway gave Tesla a global showcase for its

technology, and Musk, once a regular visitor to the country,

praised its government's subsidy-backed EV policies.

"Norway rocks," he wrote in 2022 on Twitter, the social

media platform he bought and later renamed X.

The Model S rapidly became the best-selling car in Norway

where EVs now account for 94% of all new vehicle sales.

In 2021, Tesla took the title of the country's leading car

brand outright and has accounted for between 11% and 20% of

total new car registrations in each of the last five years.

That dominance, however, is now being challenged.

Volkswagen temporarily seized the top spot in

the first quarter. Volvo Cars' EV offering is also

fast winning over Norwegian drivers.

And Chinese manufacturers, including BYD, XPeng ( XPEV )

and SAIC Motor's brand MG, together seized

a 12.3% share of new sales in June.

BOYCOTT TO SAVE

Tesla is, for now, successfully fending off the growing

threats to its crown in Norway and overcoming the popular

disenchantment with CEO Musk.

New Tesla registrations dipped 4% last year and the early

months of 2025 were marked by subdued sales.

But Norwegians snapped up its refreshed Model Y SUV, which

first came out in March, as well as a lower-priced version

released in May.

"Having the ease of operation, having a car that fulfills

your needs and for a very affordable price, that is much more

important to the Norwegian car buyer than dealing with Tesla

shame," said Oyvind Solberg Thorsen, head of the Norwegian Road

Federation (OFV).

A promotional blitz that saw Tesla offer zero-interest

financing and free supercharging in May likely contributed to a

213% spike in Tesla's new car registrations.

"It's practically free money, so I jumped at it," Lysholm

said.

The same promotion did not prevent steep sales declines in

Nordic neighbours Sweden and Denmark, however, where no Tesla

models cracked the list of top-10 sellers in July, according to

OFV.

The big question for Tesla is whether Norwegians' loyalty to

the brand will last.

Research from polling agency Norstat published in February

showed that 40% of Norway's Tesla owners believe Musk's

political activism is hurting the brand, though more than half

of Tesla owners polled said they intended to buy another Tesla.

Odd Bakken, a Tesla owner since 2014 who once admired Musk

as a visionary, won't be one of them.

Driving his Model S from Oslo to his home in the southern

town of Ski, he told Reuters he still loves the technology.

"Tesla was the first electric car that was actually a good

car," said Bakken, who at one point sat on the board of the

Norwegian Tesla owners club.

It was a two-way relationship, with Tesla posting pictures

on its social media of Bakken's Model S on a 2014 trip to

northern Norway.

But after Musk moved to back Trump and rally behind

political movements like Germany's far-right Alternative for

Germany, he decided Norwegians needed to show their displeasure

via their pocketbooks and convince the company to push him out.

"To save Tesla, we need to boycott Tesla," he said.

That doesn't mean he wouldn't buy a second-hand model

though.

"Because the company doesn't benefit from us buying their

used cars," he said.