Tesla Motors has a huge following in North America for its high-powered electric cars, however the situation in Germany, Europe’s biggest car market is somewhat different for this electric car company. In Germany it has been more difficult to convince car buyers, even green car buyers. This was clearly seen at this week’s Frankfurt Motor Show.
Just 958 of Tesla’s 81,800 euro Model S were sold in Germany in the last eight months (until August 2015). This is a fraction of the 5,149 deliveries for the comparatively expensive Mercedes-Benz S-class sedan and well below the 1,000 cars a month Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said the automaker aims to sell in the market.
Tesla delivered about 7,100 vehicles in Europe and 11,700 in the U.S. in the first half of this year. Its home state of California accounted for nearly half the U.S. total sales.
However Tesla European sales increased by more than 50 percent in the last 8 months fueled mostly by car consumers from Norway, where generous subsidies and perks including free parking, charging and driving on bus lanes have almost tripled the number of electric passenger cars on the road since 2013 to some 50,000.
The Model S was the country’s second-best-selling electric car after the Volkswagen e-Golf in the first half, with 2,674 deliveries. This boom will not last as the Norwegian government has said it will gradually start cutting incentives in 2018.
