Tesla’s UK sales rose 90% in 2019, Companies House figures show

Tesla’s UK sales soared by almost 90pc in 2019 while profits more than doubled as more Britons opted to buy its high-end electric vehicles, reports The Telegraph. 

Elon Musk’s company posted revenues of £589m for 2019, up 88pc on the previous year, according to accounts filed with Companies House. Profit after tax during this period increased to £5.18m, up 126pc, while corporation tax paid rose to £2.57m from £1.79m.

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.

Tesla to recall Model S and Model X over touch-screen failures

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.

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.

However, earlier this month, Tesla announced it was recalling approximately 135,000 Model S luxury sedans and Model X sport-utility vehicles in the US over touch-screen failures.  The move came after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) requested a recall, saying the touch screen in some models can fail when a memory chip runs out of storage capacity, affecting functions such as defrosting, turn-signal functionality and driver assistance.