Tesla is slowing down deliveries in one of its most important markets, Norway, because of logistics constraints, chief executive Elon Musk said over the weekend.
"I have just asked our team to slow down deliveries. It is clear that we are exceeding the local logistics capacity due to batch build and delivery. Customer happiness & safety matter more than a few extra cars this quarter," Musk said in a tweet on Saturday, replying to a report by Electrek that Norwegian authorities have stopped trucks transporting Teslas due to varieties of safety reasons. According to media reports in Norway, one of the trucks that hadn't been stopped was later involved in an accident in which two Tesla Model S were crushed.
A Tesla spokesperson told CNN that the trucks the U.S. EV carmaker is using in Norway "must be safe and comply with local regulations. We expect nothing less from our suppliers."
Norway is Tesla's the best per-capita market. It is also Tesla's third-largest market worldwide in terms of revenues after the United States and China, according to Tesla's annual report for 2017. Tesla's revenue in Norway jumped to US$823 million last year from US$336 million in 2016.
In Norway, the purchase of electric vehicles is not currently subject to import taxes, taxes on non-recurring vehicle fees, the 25-percent value-added tax, or the purchase taxes that apply to the purchase of gas-powered vehicles, Tesla says.
In December 2017, Tesla was the most popular carmaker in Norway, according to Electrek, with Model X and Model S first and second for most popular car models - even ahead of the traditional top seller, the VW Golf.
The slowdown in Norwegian deliveries at the end of the first quarter could cut into Tesla's quarterly deliveries numbers that the market will be closely watching for updates on how production of the mass-market Model 3 is ramping up. Model 3 production and deliveries are expected to lag (again) estimates.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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Tsvetana is a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing for news outlets such as iNVEZZ and SeeNews. More
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