Car market: Tesla punished on EU car market

Electric cars remain on the rise in the European Union despite the overall declining new registrations – but for Tesla, however, it is still steeply downhill. The new registrations of cars with a pure battery drive (BEV – Battery Electric Vehicles) have increased by over a quarter to 255,489, as the European manufacturer Association ACEA in Brussels announced. They had a market share of 15.2 percent at the end of February.

However, the US electric car manufacturer Tesla could not benefit from this, in January and February with a total of around 19,000 units, a good 49 percent less model X and Co. were approved in the EU.

In the past few months, in view of the political activities of Tesla boss Elon Musk, companies have repeatedly separated from Teslas in their fleet. However, experts also point out that the recent declines of the Tesla new registrations could also have to do with a production change. The announcement of the now available facelift of the Model Y plays a role. In addition, other providers would have caught up with the technology.

Overall, the number of newly approved cars in the European Union did not recover in February after a weak start of the year. According to ACEA, 853,670 cars were registered last month, 3.4 percent less than a year earlier. The minus has been three percent since the beginning of the year.

While the VW Group, Renault and BMW recorded increasing demand, the new registrations at Mercedes-Benz and the Stellatis Group (Fiat, Peugeot, Opel) decreased.