Tesla sales in Europe are down 45 percent from this time last year — a steep decline for a U.S. automaker long seen as the leader of the electric vehicle revolution.
Tesla sales fell from 18,161 in January 2024 to 9,945 in January 2025, according to an analysis of new car registrations in the European Union, United Kingdom and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), which includes Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, conducted by the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association.
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The numbers are starker in just the E.U., where sales plummeted from 15,130 to 7,517, a sharp 50 percent decrease from January 2024 to January 2025, according to the group.
The decline in sales comes as Tesla CEO Elon Musk has drawn worldwide criticism for his role in the U.S. DOGE Service canceling contracts and slashing staff in the U.S. government, as well as for his activity on his social media site, X, to elevate some of the most polarizing far-right world figures.
In the days leading up to Germany’s federal election on Sunday, Musk amplified the far-right, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany party on X, posting about the party and its leader more than 70 times to his 218 million followers. Musk, the world’s richest man, has also published opinion columns praising the party, live-streamed an interview with AfD co-leader Alice Weidel and spoken at an AfD rally, where he told Germans to move beyond “past guilt” over Nazi history.
The country’s conservative Christian Democrats won Sunday’s election.
Ian Henry, director of AutoAnalysis, a London-based automotive consultancy, attributed Tesla’s decline in sales to a confluence of factors: rising competition, a slowdown in the rate at which electric vehicle sales are rising and “possibly the toxic nature of Mr. Musk.”
Tesla sales fell from 18,161 in January 2024 to 9,945 in January 2025, according to an analysis of new car registrations in the European Union, United Kingdom and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), which includes Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, conducted by the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association.
Get a curated selection of 10 of our best stories in your inbox every weekend.
The numbers are starker in just the E.U., where sales plummeted from 15,130 to 7,517, a sharp 50 percent decrease from January 2024 to January 2025, according to the group.
The decline in sales comes as Tesla CEO Elon Musk has drawn worldwide criticism for his role in the U.S. DOGE Service canceling contracts and slashing staff in the U.S. government, as well as for his activity on his social media site, X, to elevate some of the most polarizing far-right world figures.
In the days leading up to Germany’s federal election on Sunday, Musk amplified the far-right, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany party on X, posting about the party and its leader more than 70 times to his 218 million followers. Musk, the world’s richest man, has also published opinion columns praising the party, live-streamed an interview with AfD co-leader Alice Weidel and spoken at an AfD rally, where he told Germans to move beyond “past guilt” over Nazi history.
The country’s conservative Christian Democrats won Sunday’s election.
Ian Henry, director of AutoAnalysis, a London-based automotive consultancy, attributed Tesla’s decline in sales to a confluence of factors: rising competition, a slowdown in the rate at which electric vehicle sales are rising and “possibly the toxic nature of Mr. Musk.”
