Tesla's Scandi sales slump in October

(Sharecast News) - Tesla experienced significant sales declines in many European markets in October, with new car registrations in Scandinavia seeing a big drop. New car registrations for Tesla models were down 50% in Norway, 86% in Denmark and 89% in Sweden, according to domestic sales data released on Monday.

Meanwhile, over in the Netherlands, Tesla registrations were down 48% from the same month the year before.

While not core markets for Tesla, the slump reflects ongoing tough conditions for the American automaker across the continent amid a ramping up of competition from Chinese rivals. Notably, competitors BYD, Xpeng and Zeekr all outsold Tesla in the Danish market in October.

The brand is also continuing to feel the impact from the ongoing backlash against its controversial founder and chief executive Elon Musk, given his affiliation with Donald Trump and a number of far-right political parties across Europe.

On the upside, data also released on Monday showed that sales in Spain were up 31% year-on-year and were 2% higher in France.

Tesla futures were down 0.4% at $454.70 in pre-market trading in New York.