Tesla UK sales spike almost 90pc to £590m as more Britons go electric

Sales at Tesla in the UK have soared as Elon Musk has driven the business to new heights

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Tesla’s UK sales soared by almost 90pc while profits more than doubled as more Britons opted for electric vehicles, new figures show.

Elon Musk’s company posted revenues of £589m for 2019, up 88pc from the previous year, according to accounts filed with Companies House.

Profit after tax increased to £5.18m, up 126pc, while corporation tax paid rose to £2.57m from £1.79m.

The strong sales growth came before the valuation of the company rocketed through the pandemic. Shares in Tesla increased 35pc throughout 2019 to $86 before soaring more than 800pc to $798.15.

Tesla Motors Limited, the UK subsidiary of the car giant, increased its headcount by 43 to 556 people. Staff costs for the year topped £31.76m with around £22.62m paid out in salaries. No dividend was paid through the year.

History of Tesla

Musk’s electric vehicle business, now the most-valuable car company in the world at a valuation of $766.11bn, said much of its growth is down to sales of its Model 3 and Model S vehicles.

The carmaker is also plotting the release of a pickup, named the Cybertruck, and a new performance version of the Model S, called Plaid.

Tesla was one of two car brands, alongside MG, to increase its sales in the UK last year, according to figures from Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

The trade body estimated that 22,344 Model 3s were sold in the UK last year and said it was December’s best-selling car.

A total of 108,205 electric vehicles were sold in the UK in 2020, up 180pc year on year. The renewable vehicles now account for 6.6pc of the overall market, jumping from 1.6pc in 2019. Overall, global sales of electric cars grew 43pc last year to more than 3m, despite overall car sales slumping by a fifth.

Other carmakers, including Ford, Bentley and Jaguar, have pledged to cut petrol and diesel production.

On Wednesday, Ford said it would spend £720m to update it Cologne factory so that it can produce mass-market EVs by 2023. It said its passenger vehicles in Europe will be all-electric by 2030.