Sales of new Tesla cars almost halved in Europe last month, indicating waning demand for the US carmaker’s vehicles as its chief executive Elon Musk intervened repeatedly in the politics on both sides of the Atlantic.
The Texas-based carmaker sold 9,945 vehicles in Europe in January, down 45% from last year’s 18,161, according to data from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA). Tesla’s share of the market dropped to 1% from 1.8%.
This could suggest that Musk’s interventions in European political affairs and senior role in Donald Trump’s administration defunding and depopulating the US government – including shutting down its aid programme – are leading to a consumer backlash.
The tech billionaire, a close adviser to the US president, has become a vocal supporter of Germany’s far-right AfD party in recent months, and described it in January as the “best hope for the future” in Germany. On Monday, he called the party’s co-leader Alice Weidel to congratulate her on the party’s performance in Germany’s national election after it doubled its support from the previous election.
Musk also waded into the UK’s political row about grooming gangs, publicly accusing Keir Starmer and other senior politicians of covering up the scandal, despite there being no evidence of any organised cover-up.
Emmanuel Macron, the French president, joined the Norwegian, British and German leaders in early January in responding to a barrage of hostile social media posts by Musk backing far-right political parties and criticising leftwing politicians in Europe.
Tesla sold 1,277 new cars last month in Germany, its lowest monthly total since July 2021, according to Bloomberg calculations. Sales in France plummeted 63% in its worst performance in the country since August 2022.
The company also registered fewer vehicles in the UK than its Chinese electric car rival BYD for the first time. Tesla’s sales fell by nearly 8% in an EV market that grew by 42% last month.
The slump came as the European market for new battery-electric cars grew by 34% to 124,341 units, capturing a 15% share of the total car market, the figures from the ACEA showed.
after newsletter promotion
Three of the four largest markets in Europe, which together account for nearly two-thirds of all battery-electric car sales, recorded double-digit gains: Germany (+53.5%), Belgium (+37.2%) and the Netherlands (+28.2%), while France posted a slight dip of 0.5%.
The overall car market shrank by 2.1% in January. Many of the EU’s big markets recorded declines, with France down by 6.2%, Italy 5.8% lower and Germany losing 2.8%. Spain, however, recorded a 5.3% increase.
