Since the beginning of the year, Tesla sales have plummeted in Europe amid the backlash against the company’s CEO, Elon Musk.
According to figures released on Tuesday, March 25, by the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), the car manufacturers’ registrations fell by 49% year-on-year, falling to 19,046 vehicles in the EU and a 1.1% market share. In February, Tesla’s sales fell by 47.1%, but their market share slightly improved to 1.4% last month, roughly the same as Jeep.
Despite Tesla’s decline in sales, registrations of electric vehicles in the EU increased by 28.4% during the same period. There are 255,489 electric vehicles on European roads, and the industry currently holds 15.2% of the market share.
Is Tesla’s underperformance tied to Mr. Musk’s role in the Trump administration?
Musk has played a crucial role in the second Trump administration since the US President’s inauguration in January, prompting calls for boycotts against the manufacturer in Europe and North America.
US President Donald Trump has branded some of the protests against Tesla as acts of domestic terrorism. The FBI has already created an anti-domestic terrorism task force in charge of probing some of the Tesla dealerships that have been severely vandalized to hold those responsible for the acts accountable.
Tesla drivers worldwide have also been targeted, as many social media posts show how some cars have been vandalized while simply being on the road. Indeed, the brand’s unpopularity has prompted Elon Musk to take radical actions, like hosting a Tesla event for President Trump at the White House earlier this month, a PR move that sparked controversy.
TRUMP: “I will label attacks on Tesla, $TSLA, dealerships as domestic terrorism…. We already know who some of them are, we are going to catch them.” pic.twitter.com/gT32pw09K4
— unusual_whales (@unusual_whales) March 11, 2025
Experts state it’s still too early to determine whether Musk’s involvement in the US government has genuinely impacted the company.
Matthieu Noël, an analyst at Roland Berger, told AFP “Many people are not aligned with his positions, but it is still difficult to say at this stage whether this has a real impact on the brand or if it is temporary.”
Tesla sales have also dropped in the used car market in Europe
The American car manufacturer once dominated electric car technology in the European used car market but now sees its sales hegemony being threatened.
Analyses conducted by AutoScout 24, a platform centralizing used car listings across key European markets such as Germany, Belgium, France, Spain, and the Netherlands, reveal that Tesla owners are not frequently selling their vehicles online. The reports indicate that daily listings for Teslas on the platform have only increased by 3% between February 2024 and February 2025.
Tesla seems to have fallen out of favor with European customers as its market share continued to shrink and sales fell for a second consecutive month this year https://t.co/JWBgVWi23B pic.twitter.com/cmTT4gC8bn
— Reuters Business (@ReutersBiz) March 25, 2025
The analysis also found that the prices for used Teslas tend to decline at a faster rate of -18.3% year-on-year compared to other electric cars at -7.3%.