Tesla registrations surge in Europe as German numbers quadruple and Berlin engineering hub opens

Tesla (TSLA) registrations in Germany rose 290.9% year over year in October to 2,932 vehicles, according to data from the KBA, Germany's federal motor transport authority, bringing the January-to-October total to 47,742, up 206.1%. The percentage is flattered by a tiny base: October follows the quarter-end month of September, when Tesla registered 12,552 cars, and the October total gave Tesla only a 1.2% share of the German market. BYD edged ahead of Tesla year to date with 47,961 registrations, and posted 5,173 in October alone, while Leapmotor registered 3,661.

The bigger story is the German market itself. Battery-electric cars took a record 37% of new registrations in October, outselling gasoline and diesel models combined, on 94,086 units, up 79.5%. Through ten months Germany has registered 698,230 BEVs, up 60.7%. Electrek attributes most of the jump to Germany's new EV incentive, retroactive to Jan. 1, which pays €3,000 for a new BEV and up to €6,000 for lower-income households with children; private registrations rose 20.6% in October.

Elsewhere in Europe, fuel prices have done more of the work. Tesla's October registrations rose 248% in Sweden, 271% in Spain, 131% in Norway, 186% in Portugal and 94% in Italy, as energy costs climbed after the war in Iran began in February, with average EU gasoline at €1.954 per liter. Tesla's Full Self-Driving system also won approval in Latvia, the 10th EU country to approve it.

On Wednesday Tesla also opened its Berlin Tesla Engineering Center in the Köpenick district, about 30 minutes from Giga Berlin, consolidating four engineering sites and 30 labs onto one campus with about 250 engineers and technicians to start, a planned second phase of roughly 500, and a total investment of €100 million. The registration data landed on a day Tesla shares closed down 3.3%, per SentiSense price data, amid post-election selling. Points to watch are whether Tesla can hold share against fast-growing Chinese brands once quarter-end deliveries fade, and how long Germany's subsidy keeps private demand elevated.