Norway is still moving down the list of Tesla’s top-selling markets with another disappointing quarter in deliveries for the Model S. The market was the automaker’s biggest in Europe with about 8% of its total worldwide deliveries last year.
In 2015, Tesla had flat deliveries in the country after delivering the exact same number, 4,039 Model S units, two years in a row, based on registration data. The automaker is not able to maintain the rate in 2016 with a 54% drop during the first quarter and now a 52% drop during the second quarter compared to the same period last year.
According to registration data, Tesla delivered 543 Model S sedans in the country during the last 3 months versus 1,142 vehicles during the same period in 2015.
Here’s a visualization of Tesla’s Model S deliveries in Norway since 2014:
Tesla said that it has a record number (5,150) of vehicles currently in transit and it’s likely that a few of those are Model S’s going to Norway, but it’s still doubtful that it would represent a big difference on the important drop in deliveries.
The automaker recently received some bad publicity in the country where it lost its credit rating over NOK 2 million (~$250,000) in unpaid bills and it has been asked to pay ~$6,000 to Model S P85D owners in Norway for misleading power output.
Yet what is likely to be causing the biggest strain on Tesla’s sales in the country is the current exchange rate between NOK and USD which has a significant impact on the price of Tesla’s US manufactured vehicles sold in Norway:
As you can see, the sudden rise in late 2014 all the way through 2015 (up 35%) stopped Tesla’s growth in 2015 and reversed it in 2016. Since it can take a while for Tesla to adjust its price with the exchange rate in a country and then to deliver the vehicles purchased at the new price, it’s unlikely to see much of an impact from a price decrease on the Model S at this point.
Tesla recently started Model X deliveries in Norway which should help the company’s overall business in the country, but it’s still interesting to follow the Model S in a market where not long ago, it was the best-selling car.
Recent articles based on Tesla registration data:
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