Tesla September registrations rise across Europe, extending recovery

By Amir Orusov

Oct 1 (Reuters) - Registrations of new Tesla cars rose across several European markets in September, extending a rebound in the US electric vehicle maker's regional sales.

Tesla registrations, a proxy for sales, soared 128.3% in Portugal, 61.9% in France, 38.4% in Sweden and 24.8% in Spain from a year ago, data released by Portugal's ACAP, French car body PFA, Mobility Sweden and industry group ANFAC showed on Thursday.

Registrations also rose 2.2% in Norway and 2.9% in Denmark, Norway's data compiler OFV and Danish vehicle data platform bilstatistik.dk said.

Battery-electric vehicle markets in both Norway and Denmark are beginning to slow because of high saturation, said Rico Luman, senior economist at ING Research.

Tesla's rebound has been supported by easier year-ago comparisons, higher fuel prices, government incentives and growing consumer interest in electric vehicles.

The gains add to signs of a broader Tesla recovery in Europe after two years of declining sales. According to the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association, Tesla registrations across the European Union, Britain and the European Free Trade Association leaped 43.3% between January and August, outpacing the broader battery-electric vehicle market's 38.8% growth over the same period.

Growth, however, will likely slow to be more in line with the total market in 2027, as competition from peers becomes more intense, said Matthias Schmidt, European auto market analyst at Schmidt Automotive.

Tesla continues to rely heavily on its Model 3 and Model Y, while consumers now have a wider choice of competitively priced vehicles from Chinese rivals as well as the latest European offerings, said Joern Buss, partner at consultancy Arthur D. Little.

European automakers such as BMW and Mercedes can particularly interest buyers with strong loyalty to national brands, Buss added.

Non-Chinese brands have revealed 27 all-new BEV models in Europe this year through September, while Tesla has shown nothing new, said Felipe Munoz, industry analyst through his platform Car Industry Analysis.

(Reporting by Amir Orusov in Gdansk, additional reporting by Marie Mannes, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak and Joyjeet Das)