The backlash of Elon Musk turns into a collapse of world sales for Tesla

If there is anywhere Tesla should be prospered, it is Norway. Electric vehicles represent more than 90% of sales of new cars in the Scandinavian country, and buyers here are among the most sophisticated in the world when it comes to understanding the nuances of batteries, load and range.

So, it does little auspicious for Tesla that its sales in Norway have decreased by more than 12% so far this year. Sales of the first three months of the year were even worse in Denmark, France, the Netherlands and Sweden.

In fact, Tesla sales experienced a strong downward trend worldwide: the company said on Wednesday that its world sales in the first quarter fell 13% compared to the previous year.

Tesla said she had delivered nearly 337,000 cars during the quarter. This is down compared to 387,000 in the first three months of 2024 and less than in any period since the second quarter of 2022.

The lukewarm sales of the company at a time when sales of electric vehicles increased in the world reflected a certain number of serious problems, including a reaction of consumers against the leading role that Elon Musk, the director general of Tesla, plays in the Trump administration.

Geir Rognlien Elgvin, an urban planner from the city of Oslo, bought his first Tesla in 2013, months after their introduction to Norway. He visited the company’s Gigafactory battery in Nevada. He met Mr. Musk when the executive was still best known to want to approach climate change with electric cars and his rocket company, SpaceX.