Tesla sales are dropping like a rock in Europe based on early sales numbers coming for January 2025. Many are linking this to dissatisfaction with CEO Elon Musk’s meddling in European politics.
While there’s undoubtedly some of that going on, it’s not the only factor.
Several European countries release car sale numbers on a monthly basis.
When we compare Tesla’s performance to the same period last year, the American automaker is down in every single market, and it has delivered about half as many vehicles as last year:
| Country | Jan-25 | Jan-24 | % YoY |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK | 1,293 | 1,581 | -18.2% |
| France | 1,141 | 3,118 | -63.4% |
| Netherlands | 926 | 1,610 | -42.5% |
| Norway | 663 | 1,109 | -40.2% |
| Spain | 269 | 1,094 | -75.4% |
| Sweden | 394 | 730 | -46.0% |
| Denmark | 451 | 763 | -40.9% |
| Portugal | 380 | 551 | -31.0% |
| Total | 5,517 | 10,556 | -47.7% |
Several media outlets are linking this sharp decline to a similar decline in the approval of Tesla CEO Elon Musk in those same markets.
They are sitting surveys that show Musk’s reputation is crashing in many of those markets after his meddling in politics, and the effect is trickling down to Tesla.
For example, a survey in Sweden showed that only 11% of the population had a positive view of Tesla (via Retuers):
The share of Swedes having a positive view of Tesla declined to 11% in a Novus survey conducted after Trump’s inauguration from 19% in a similar poll conducted Jan. 15-17, while those who said they had a negative view rose to 63% from 47%, TT reported.
While Elon Musk’s reputation is undoubtedly affecting Tesla’s sales, it’s not the only factor at play here.
Q1 is always more difficult for Tesla as it works to liquidate its inventory in Q4 to boost its financial performance at the end of the year. Tesla ends up having very little inventory to work with in the first quarter of every year.
However, that was also true of Q1 2023, which is the comparison above.
The other significant factor is the recently unveiled new Model Y. Tesla is currently transitioning its best-selling vehicle to the new design, which is affecting production and inventory.
Electrek’s Take
Top comment by Gary Fisher
My wife had every intention of buying a MY, but did not because of Musk. She bought a Ionic 5. We also contacted the board of directors od Tesla, and told them we did not buy a Y because of Musk.
Either way, it does not look good for Tesla in Europe. 2024 was already a bad year, and now 2025 is off to a 50% decline to start.
I would expect the new Model Y is responsible for about half of that while Tesla’s struggling reputation, in large part due to Musk, is responsible for the rest of the decline.
Europe represented 325,000 deliveries for Tesla in 2024.
Where do you think 2025 will be? I think Tesla would be lucky to deliver 300,000 vehicles in Europe this year.
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