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By Shane Croucher
Senior Editor
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Autos trade group Mobility Sweden said new vehicle registrations of Tesla models were down 80.7 percent in April amid a backlash against the political activity of CEO Elon Musk.
Tesla registrations were 203 in April, down from 1,052 a year before.
It was one of the worst-performing automakers for the month in the Nordic country, and sat in contrast to an overall 11 percent rise in new passenger vehicle registrations to 24,292.
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Polestar Automotive, a Swedish electric automaker and one of Tesla's competitors, saw its sales hit 535 in April, an 11.5 percent increase.
Tesla has faced a similar slide in sales elsewhere in Europe as people protest against Musk, both peacefully and through violent attacks on Tesla property, and its aging fleet of electric vehicles comes under pressure from newer Chinese models.
Newsweek has contacted Tesla's European press office for comment via email.
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Why it Matters
As Tesla's stock suffers amid the backlash, investors have questioned if Musk should be focusing more on his businesses than on politics. Musk will soon retreat from his White House role to return to his businesses, including Tesla.
What to Know
Musk and Tesla have pushed back against a report in The Wall Street Journal that members of the board had actively looked for his replacement as CEO.
Tesla shared a statement from Robyn Denholm, chair of the board, on X, calling the report "absolutely false."
"The CEO of Tesla is Elon Musk and the Board is highly confident in his ability to continue executing on the exciting growth plan ahead," Denholm said.
The world's richest man, Musk has an estimated fortune of $342 billion according to Forbes. As well as a stake in Tesla, Musk also owns the rocket company SpaceX and social media platform X, formerly Twitter.
He has become a close political ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, who chose the tech tycoon to head the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) after his inauguration in January. DOGE has overseen significant cuts to federal spending.
Musk has also intervened in European politics, by endorsing Alliance for Germany (AfD), a party the country's domestic intelligence agency has now concluded is a "proven right-wing extremist endeavor."
He has said he will step back from his role with DOGE to give more time again to Tesla and his other businesses. The electric automaker's share price has seen sharp losses in recent months, partly related to Musk's focus on his political work.
What People Are Saying
At a meeting with reporters in the White House on May 1, Elon Musk defended DOGE's work as he prepares to scale back his government role, and acknowledged the impact it has had on Tesla.
"Being attacked relentlessly is not super fun," he said. "Seeing cars burning is not fun," he added, referring to the instances of Tesla cars being smashed or set on fire.
"In the grand scheme of things, I think we've been effective. Not as effective as I'd like. I think we could be more effective. But we've made progress," Musk said.
After Tesla's recent earnings call, investor Ross Gerber told Newsweek he is "trying to figure out if Elon Musk actually does anything at Tesla at all," and that his return seems like a "false hope."
What's Next
Musk will soon turn more of his attention back to Tesla.
Investors will be watching closely to see if he can turn Tesla's fortunes back around, particularly in the fierce competition against Chinese electric vehicles, or if his political connections become too great a burden for the company to carry any longer.
This article includes reporting by The Associated Press.
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