April 1 (Reuters) - Tesla new car registrations in France more than tripled in March and were just shy of an all-time high recorded over two years ago, national data showed on Wednesday in the latest
Tesla March car registrations soar in key European markets, showing changing trend
European Tesla sales rebound and market dynamics
By Alessandro Parodi, Louise Rasmussen and Gilles Guillaume
April 1 (Reuters) - New registrations of Tesla cars tripled in France during March to just shy of a two-year-old record high, and more than doubled in the Nordic countries, data showed on Wednesday as the company's sales recover in Europe.
Tesla, the world's most valuable automaker by market capitalisation, lost almost half its European market share in 2025 due to a combination of growing competition, especially from Chinese brands, its lack of new models and reaction to CEO Elon Musk's political stance.
Factors influencing Tesla’s European performance
Since it started to roll out new, cheaper versions of its Model Y and Model 3 to consumers in the U.S. and Europe late last year, Tesla's European registrations, a proxy for sales, have reversed course and returned to growth in February.
Impact of external events on EV sales
In the longer term, Tesla and other EV makers stand to benefit from a war-driven rise in petrol prices affecting sales trends, said Flavien Neuvy, economist and director of the automotive observatory at BNP Paribas unit Cetelem.
"The impact on March registrations was still marginal as that plays more on order books," Neuvy said. "We’ll see the effects of this Iran war factor over the coming months."
Dealership trends and consumer interest
Olivier Mornet, the CEO of Renault's Dacia France, told Reuters it was difficult to assess the impact of the war on orders for now, but inquiries for electric and LPG cars at dealerships and on the company's websites had spiked.
Regional breakdown of Tesla registrations
MARCH REGISTRATIONS SPIKE
Tesla's March registrations accelerated especially in France, Norway, Sweden and Denmark.
France leads the surge
In France, 9,569 new Teslas were registered, data from French car body PFA showed on Wednesday, a 203% increase from a year earlier. That was just below an all-time high of 9,572 vehicles registered in December 2023.
Overall, monthly car sales in France grew for the first time since October.
Nordic and other European markets
In Norway, Sweden and Denmark, Tesla registrations were up by 178%, 144% and 96% at 6,150, 1,447 and 1,784 vehicles, respectively, data from OFV, bilstatistik.dk and Mobility Sweden showed.
They rose by 89% to 1,806 cars in Belgium, 72% to 1,819 in the Netherlands, 32% to 2,920 in Italy, 25% to 2,477 in Spain and 1.7% to 674 in Switzerland, according to Febiac, RAI, the Italian transport ministry, ANFAC and auto-suisse. They fell by 1.7% in Portugal to 1,189, ACAP data showed.
Quarterly registration trends
In a letter sent to British media last month, Tesla said registrations were usually skewed towards the end of each quarter due to the way cars are shipped.
Its first-quarter registrations grew 108% in France, 95% in Norway, 48% in Sweden, 50% in Denmark, 43% in Spain, 32% in Italy, 27% in Portugal and 23% in Belgium. They fell 23% in the Netherlands and 21% in Switzerland.
Upcoming data from major markets
Britain and Germany, Europe's largest car markets, will report March registration figures later in the week.
(Reporting by Alessandro Parodi, Louise Rasmussen, Gilles Guillaume, Camille Raynaud, Mireia Merino, Giulio Piovaccari and Marta Serafinko; Editing by Sonali Paul, Matt Scuffham and Milla Nissi-Prussak)
