NEW YORK — Tesla sales plunged by more than half last month in several European countries in a sign that Elon Musk could struggle to revive the company after he shifts from his Washington work to running the automaker again.
Tesla sales collapsed in April by more than two-thirds from a year earlier in Sweden, the Netherlands and Denmark, according to auto groups and government agencies Friday. Sales at the Austin, Texas, company dropped by 59% in France and 38% in Norway.
The countries are not major drivers of sales overall, but they are the first to report April results and thus a foretaste of possible trouble elsewhere as Tesla reels from protests and boycotts over Musk wading into politics.
In Germany, where he told voters their country was lost if they didn’t vote for a candidate widely derided for her extreme views, sales plunged 62% in the first three months this year. German sales for April are not out yet.
Financial analysts covering Tesla are worried about the Musk backlash but caution it’s not clear exactly how much to blame politics for the hit. Other factors suppressing sales include Tesla’s aging model lineup and new offerings from rival electric vehicles makers, such as China BYD.
Tesla also had to shut down factories for several weeks this year while upgrading its best selling Model Y sport utility vehicle, pinching supply. And the company is still waiting for European regulators to approve its partial self-driving features in its cars, a big selling point in the U.S. and China.
“We could see sales come back once they get it,” said Morningstar analyst Seth Goldstein, though he added about the April figures, “It’s never a good thing when you have large sales declines like this.”
The disappointing numbers come a little over a week since Musk told investors on a first-quarter conference call that he would be stepping back from his work in Washington as President Donald Trump’s chain-saw wielding cost-cutting czar. Musk has shut down whole government departments as head of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, and thrown tens of thousands of public workers out of their jobs.
On the call, Musk said he would be spending only one or two days a week on DOGE work starting in May, acceding to demands that he refocus on his job as Tesla’s chief executive officer.
The stock has been rising since that announcement despite crumbling financial figures. Profits in the first quarter fell 71%.
The sales hit in April was the worst in Sweden, where Mobility Sweden said they fell 81%. That was followed by a 74% plunge in the Netherlands and a 67% drop in Denmark, according to the Dutch trade association BOVAG and Mobility Denmark respectively.
The Norwegian Road Traffic Information Council reported a 38% drop in that country.
One bright spot: Tesla was able to sell more cars in Italy, according to an Italian Ministry of Infrastructure and Transportation report, registering a 3% gain for the month.
