(Reuters) -Sales of new Tesla cars in France and Denmark fell in July for the seventh straight month, as the EV maker struggles with a backlash to CEO Elon Musk's political views, regulatory challenges and competition from European and Chinese brands.
Tesla's aging lineup is facing a wave of low-cost EV rivals, especially from China. It is rolling out a revamped Model Y and starting to produce a new, cheaper model, but production of that will only ramp up next quarter, later than initially expected.
The brand's sales were down 27% year-on-year in July to 1,307 cars in France, and down 52% to 336 cars in Denmark, official industry data showed, after dropping by over a third in Europe in the first six months of the year.
With no more affordable-end vehicles on the horizon until the last three months of the year and the upcoming end of a $7,500 U.S. tax break for EV buyers, Musk acknowledged in July that the company could have "a few rough quarters".
He said tough automated driving regulations in Europe made it harder to sell the Model Y in some countries, as the vehicle's optional supervised self-driving is "a huge selling point".
"Our sales in Europe, we think will improve significantly once we are able to give customers the same experience that they have in the U.S.," he told analysts.
Model Y registrations in Denmark fell by 49% in July.
Tesla launched in June a trial robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, using about a dozen Model Y SUVs controlled by its autonomous-driving software. But the roll-out of its self-driving features elsewhere in the U.S. is bogged down because it hasn't received the required permits.
Overall car sales slid 8% in France and were up 20% in Denmark in July, the industry data showed.
European automakers Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, Stellantis, Renault and BMW have published downbeat second-quarter results, warning of pressure from U.S. import tariffs and falling demand.
(Reporting by Alessandro Parodi, Camille Raynaud, and Louise Rasmussen. Editing by Himani Sarkar and Mark Potter)
