Elon Musk’s political involvement has not been very good for Tesla’s sales in Europe, reports Hungary’s Portfolio news portal based on recent car sales.
In the European Union, 11,743 Teslas were sold in February this year, 47 percent less than a year ago; for both January and February, the decline was 49 percent.
Overall car sales shrank by only 3.4 percent in February and 3 percent in the first two months, while electric car sales grew by 23.7 percent and 28.4 percent, respectively.
Electric car sales increased in all but six EU countries, with the largest markets being Germany by 31 percent, Belgium by 39 percent, and the Netherlands by 22 percent.
Tesla’s most popular model, the Y, has had a model update, and many people have been waiting for the new cars, with problems with ramping up production at its Chinese factory, writes Portfolio, adding that this is not enough to explain the drop-off.
It would be difficult to explain the collapse in sales with these alone, as Musk’s politics, such as supporting the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party probably account for a fair share of the drop.
In February, electric car sales in Germany increased by nearly 31 percent, but Tesla sales fell by more than 70 percent. Meanwhile, Tesla sales fell by 50 percent in Portugal, 45 percent in France, 42 percent in Sweden, and 48 percent in Norway.
It is not any better over in China, either, where Tesla’s sales fell 49 percent in February, with 30,688 cars delivered, the lowest since July 2022.
In China, Tesla’s market share has fallen from more than 16 percent in 2022 to 4.3 percent by February 2025, while for Europe, according to Reuters, its share of the total EV market in February fell from 2.8 percent to 1.8 percent year-over.year, and from 21.6 percent of the BEV market to 10.3 percent.
However, those who have written Musk off before have often come out on the losing side, including Bill Gates’ notorious short position on Tesla stock from years ago. Tesla also has a number of products in the pipeline, including the Optimus humanoid robot and robotaxis. Those who claimed X would go bankrupt have also eaten crow, with the social media platform, with the value of the platform already rebounding to the original purchase price. Notably, Space X continues to pull away from competitors and reportedly is now worth more even than his shares in Tesla.
