Declines in Norway and Spain highlight uneven demand, even as rising fuel prices boost broader electric vehicle adoption.New registrations of Tesla cars extended their recovery in several European markets in April, more than doubling in Sweden, France and Denmark while rising in the Netherlands but falling sharply in Norway and Spain.
Tesla’s sales in Europe have rebounded strongly so far this year after two consecutive annual declines, helped by an easier comparison base and customers’ rising interest in alternatives to combustion-engine vehicles following a surge in petrol prices triggered by the Iran war.
The world’s most valuable automaker by market capitalisation lost almost half its European market share in 2025 due to growing competition, its lack of new models and a reaction to CEO Elon Musk’s political stance. The automaker’s registrations, a proxy for sales, jumped 111 per cent in Sweden and 102 per cent in Denmark in April, according to data from Mobility Sweden, published on Monday, and bilstatistik.dk, published on Friday. Registrations also surged 112 per cent in France and increased 23 per cent in the Netherlands, data published on Friday showed.
By contrast, new registrations dropped 47 per cent in Spain and 61 per cent in Norway, data from industry group ANFAC and compiler OFV showed on Monday.
“European EV sales figures are likely to rebound this year owing to a combination of new models, improved performance, and higher gasoline prices,” said Andy Leyland, co-founder of supply chain specialist SC Insights.
However, he said that the registration figures were highly dependent on delivery of vehicles from production sites. If vehicles are transported by ocean freight, deliveries may not occur every month, which can lead to highly volatile figures, he said.
Other European countries, including Italy and Portugal, are expected to report later in the day.
April was likely to show the first clear impact of high fuel prices on new battery electric vehicle (BEV) registrations, said Rico Luman, senior economist at ING Research.
Europe’s BEV share of new car registrations rose to 20.5 per cent in the first quarter of 2026 from 13.2 per cent a year earlier and is likely to continue edging toward 25 per cent in coming months, he added.
