Tesla Sales Plummet 45% in Europe
World's Third Largest Automotive Market Tells Elon Musk to Fuck Himself
Tesla’s competitiveness in the world’s third largest auto market has been utterly and thoroughly destroyed by CEO Elon Musk’s embrace of extreme right politics.
A report released Monday by the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association states that Tesla sold only 9,945 cars throughout Europe in January 2025, a jaw-dropping fall of 45% in from the 18,161 it sold the same month a year prior.
These sales declines were very specific to Tesla. The overall European EV market actually boomed, posting a 37% increase over the same period, with local automakers like Volkswagen, BMW and Stellantis leading the way forward.
Perhaps most humiliating for Tesla: it was bested in the U.K. market for the first time by BYD, it’s erstwhile Chinese rival which has only just begun selling in Europe.
As shocking as these numbers are, they likely understate the size of the backlash currently engulfing Tesla in Europe. On January 20th, Musk performed what most reasonable people interpreted as a Nazi salute while celebrating the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump. The globally televised gesture occured only ten days before the end of the January reporting period. The full effect of this controversy on sales in European nations - many of whom directly experienced occupation by Nazis forces in the Second World War - is still yet to come.
We don’t yet know how far Tesla’s YoY European sales will fall in February and March of 2025. -50%? -65% -70%? But the numbers are likely to be bad. Very, very, very bad. And as Musk is showing no signs of retreating from politics - there is no end in sight to Tesla’s downward spiral.
Will Tesla Pull Out?
Most major car companies have operations in Europe, but it is possible to survive without competing in the market. GM sold its operations and left Europe entirely in 2017, following decades of losses. And most Chinese and Indian automakers have yet to start operations there, preferring to focus on their domestic markets and those in other emerging nations.
But Tesla has historically relied on European sales more than most non-European carmakers due to the generous EV subsidies available there. Europe makes up between a fifth and a quarter of Tesla’s sales. It also has a manufacturing facility in Berlin. But how long can these sales loses be sustained before Tesla gives serious consideration to retreating from the money-losing European market altogether?
One problem, of course, is that Tesla’s woes are not confined to Europe. The full extent of Tesla’s sales declines in the United States won’t be known with certainty until Q1 figures are reported in April. But early signs suggest that sales in the American market are also cratering. Meanwhile, increasing competition from BYD and other domestic automakers in China is pressuring Tesla’s market share in the world’s largest auto market.
If Tesla can’t sell cars in Europe, North America, or China, where can it sell them? To which market can it safely retreat? The remainder of world isn’t large enough to support a global automaker, and certainly cannot support a market capitalization anywhere near the ludicrously high 1 trillion dollars currently assigned to Tesla.
These latest numbers crystallize the fork in the road for the embattled electric vehicle pioneer. Either Tesla rapidly finds a way to repair it’s toxic brand in the U.S. and Europe, or investors will walk - crashing the stock and slashing the company’s valuation by more than 90%. A car company that can’t sell cars isn’t worth a dime.
Disclosures: None