Tesla sales in a number of major European markets nearly halved in January, partly because of calendar year effects as well as some owners holding off for the new facelifted Model Y.

Tesla posted lower sales across five European countries in January, including the United Kingdom and France, as competitors with newer models gained on the electric vehicle maker and polls show public opinion souring on CEO Elon Musk.

When we compare Tesla’s performance to the same period last year, the American automaker is down in every single market, and it has delivered about half as many vehicles as last year: Several media outlets are linking this sharp decline to a similar decline in the approval of Tesla CEO Elon Musk in those same markets.

Tesla Inc. registrations plummeted 63% last month in France, the European Union’s second-biggest market for battery-electric vehicles. The manufacturer registered only 1,141 cars in January, the fewest since August 2022,