Originally published on Bloomberg.com on December 8, 2023 as “Musk Pits Scandinavia’s Embrace of EVs Against Its Beloved Unions.”

Elon Musk’s abrasive way of doing business may be hurting Tesla Inc. in a region that has embraced electric cars more enthusiastically than anywhere else.

A small walk-out at Tesla’s seven repair shops in Sweden over unfair working conditions has in the past month spiralled into a storm of labor strikes and blockades among the manufacturers’ service providers, and this week, the conflict spread to neighboring Denmark and Norway.

While Musk has called the dispute “insane,” his refusal to negotiate runs the risk of denting sales in the Nordic countries, where eco-conscious and well-to-do buyers have helped facilitate the consumer shift to cleaner cars. Battery-powered vehicles make up over half of new auto sales in Sweden and 90% n Norway, which was among the first backers of the technology.

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