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Porsche halts new vehicle sales in Europe to adjust to new emissions standards
Porsche has temporarily suspended the sale of new vehicles in Europe, due to the company’s current offerings not meeting the region’s new emissions standards. Buyers using Porsche’s online vehicle configurator for Europe were prompted with a message informing visitors that due to a “pending model revision,” vehicles under the company’s lineup are not available as freely configurable cars.
The reason behind the surprising halt to Porsche’s sales lies in Europe’s new Euro 6 emissions regulations, which are scheduled to be fully enforced come September. The new standards, consisting of the Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP) and Real Driving Emissions (RDE), were imposed by the EU last September, according to a report from German news agency Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
After the announcement of the new standards last September, regulators allowed manufacturers such as Porsche to sell cars that were certified with the 1997-era New European Driving Cycle (NEDC) for another year. These are the vehicles that Porsche is currently rushing to deliver before the September deadline. Porsche vehicles that are fully compliant with the new emissions standards, such as the Cayenne and the Panamera, are expected to be unavailable until around March 2019.
It’s not just Porsche that has been hit with Europe’s new emissions standards. According to the German publication, legacy automakers BMW and Volkswagen have also halted the sale of some of their offerings. BMW, for one, has stopped the sale of the BMW 7-Series, BMW X5, and the BMW M3. While Porsche has halted the sale of new vehicles in Europe, however, the company continues to allow buyers in North America and Asia to order and configure new cars.
Porsche has arguably begun an earnest embrace of electric car technology. Its highly anticipated Mission E sedan — a vehicle seen as a potential rival to the best-selling Tesla Model S — is expected to hit the market sometime next year. The Mission E has Tesla Model S-rivaling specs, including a 0-60 mph time of 3.5 seconds, a range of 310 miles, and a maximum speed of 155 mph.
Just recently, a prototype of the Mission E sedan was taken around the track by former Formula One driver Mark Webber. During his brief test drive of the electric car, Webber noted that the Mission E had noticeable similarities to the Porsche 919 Hybrid, a hybrid sports-prototype racing car that he drove to compete in endurance races such as the FIA World Endurance Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The Porsche Mission E Cross Turismo.
Porsche is not just developing one electric car, however. Earlier this year at the Geneva Motor Show, the German legacy automaker also unveiled the Mission E Cross Turismo, a more rugged variant of its four-door sedan. During its unveiling, Porsche noted that the Mission E Cross Turismo would hit the market early next decade.
The German automaker is also laying the foundations of a charging network for its electric cars. Dubbed the IONITY Network, Porsche’s ultra-fast chargers are designed to have an output of 350 kW, far beyond the ~140 kW max output of Tesla’s Superchargers.
During Tesla’s Q1 2018 earnings call, however, Tesla CEO Elon Musk and CTO JB Straubel noted that Porsche’s 350 kW electric car chargers would likely “frag” the battery and not be beneficial to drivers. Thus, according to Musk, Tesla’s Supercharger V3 network would feature an output of around 200-250 kW.
Elon Musk
Tesla Model Y tops California vehicle sales despite Elon Musk backlash
Data from the California New Car Dealers Association (CNCDA) showed the Model Y outsold its nearest competitor by more than 50,000 units.
The Tesla Model Y was California’s best-selling new vehicle in 2025 for the fourth straight year, despite protests against CEO Elon Musk and a changeover to the Model Y’s updated variant that caused a pause in production and deliveries early in the year.
Data from the California New Car Dealers Association (CNCDA) showed the Model Y outsold its nearest competitor by more than 50,000 units, according to KRON4.
The Model Y recorded 110,120 registrations in California in 2025. The second-best-selling vehicle, the Toyota RAV4, posted 65,604 units, followed by the Toyota Camry at 62,324. The Tesla Model 3 ranked fourth with 53,989 sales, ahead of the Honda Civic at 53,085 units.
Despite leading the state, Model Y sales have trended downward year-over-year. Registrations fell from 132,636 in 2023 to 128,923 in 2024, and then to 110,120 in 2025. Overall Tesla sales in California also declined, dropping from 238,589 in 2023 to 202,865 in 2024 and 179,656 in 2025.
The slowdown comes as the federal $7,500 EV tax credit ended, removing a key incentive that had supported electric vehicle demand for years.
“Tesla has a few advantages. Tesla, as a brand, has a status, cache, so I think folks in certain parts of the Bay. Owning a Tesla is a thing. I think that’s breaking down over time, especially given the political controversies surrounding Mr. Musk,” CNCDA President Brian Maas said.
California saw multiple anti-Musk protests in 2025, along with notable reports of consumer-owned Teslas being vandalized and attacked by protesters and activists. The fact that the Model Y and Model 3 remained strong performers in California is then a testament to the quality and value of the two vehicles.
Tesla’s sales of the Model Y and Model 3 might see an increase this year, as the company has announced that it is sunsetting its two more expensive cars, the Model S and Model X. With the Model S and Model X retired, more consumers will likely go for the Model Y and Model 3.
“Maybe the Model S has outlived its usefulness in terms of attracting customers. It’s no surprise the ones they kept are the Model Y and Model 3,” Maas noted.
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Tesla Supercharger left offline as Swedish court backs union strike
The completed Supercharger has been stalled for nearly two years amid Tesla’s conflict with the IF Metall union in Sweden.
Tesla’s Supercharger station in Ljungby, Sweden will remain without power after a Swedish administrative court rejected the company’s appeal to force a grid connection to the site. The completed Supercharger has been stalled for nearly two years amid Tesla’s conflict with the IF Metall union in Sweden.
The court ruled that the ongoing union strike against Tesla Sweden is valid grounds for the Supercharger’s connection delay, as noted in an Allt Om Elbil report.
The Ljungby Supercharger was one of the first charging stations that were denied grid access after IF Metall launched its strike against Tesla Sweden in late 2023. Electricians at local grid operator Ljungby Energinät were pulled into a sympathy strike by the Seko union, preventing the site’s connection.
Tesla reported both Ljungby Energinät and Gävle Energi Elnät AB to the Swedish Energy Market Inspectorate, arguing that grid operators failed to meet their legal obligation to provide connection to the location within a reasonable time frame.
The regulator ruled that the strike represented a valid exception under Swedish law, however, citing constitutional protections for industrial actions.
Tesla responded by appealing to the Administrative Court in Linköping, claiming it had the right to connection within a reasonable period, generally no more than two years. Tesla Sweden also argued that the country’s Electricity Act conflicts with EU law. The court rejected those arguments.
“The Administrative Court today finds that granting the company’s request in practice applies to the same thing as the blockade and that it would mean that the blockade would be ineffective.
“Such a decision would contradict the principle that labor market conflicts should be resolved to the greatest extent possible by the labor market parties, not by the state. The industrial action is also constitutionally protected,” Chief Councilor Ronny Idstrand stated.
The court also concluded that the Electricity Act does not conflict with EU regulations and that special reasons justified the extended delay.
While the ruling was unanimous, Tesla Sweden may appeal the decision to a higher administrative court.
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Tesla China exports 50,644 vehicles in January, up sharply YoY
The figure also places Tesla China second among new energy vehicle exporters for the month, behind BYD.
Tesla China exported 50,644 vehicles in January, as per data released by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).
This marks a notable increase both year-on-year and month-on-month for the American EV maker’s Giga Shanghai-built Model 3 and Model Y. The figure also places Tesla China second among new energy vehicle exporters for the month, behind BYD.
The CPCA’s national passenger car market analysis report indicated that total New Energy Vehicle exports reached 286,000 units in January, up 103.6% from a year earlier. Battery electric vehicles accounted for 65% of those exports.
Within that total, Tesla China shipped 50,644 vehicles overseas. By comparison, exports of Giga Shanghai-built Model 3 and Model Y units totaled 29,535 units in January last year and just 3,328 units in December.
This suggests that Tesla China’s January 2026 exports were roughly 1.7 times higher than the same month a year ago and more than 15 times higher than December’s level, as noted in a TechWeb report.
BYD still led the January 2026 export rankings with 96,859 new energy passenger vehicles shipped overseas, though it should be noted that the automaker operates at least nine major production facilities in China, far outnumering Tesla. Overall, BYD’s factories in China have a domestic production capacity for up to 5.82 million units annually as of 2024.
Tesla China followed in second place, ahead of Geely, Chery, Leapmotor, SAIC Motor, and SAIC-GM-Wuling, each of which exported significant volumes during the month. Overall, new energy vehicles accounted for nearly half of China’s total passenger vehicle exports in January, hinting at strong overseas demand for electric cars produced in the country.
China remains one of Tesla China’s most important markets. Despite mostly competing with just two vehicles, both of which are premium priced, Tesla China is still proving quite competitive in the domestic electric vehicle market.
Tesla Model Y tops California vehicle sales despite Elon Musk backlash
Tesla Supercharger left offline as Swedish court backs union strike
