Tesla's latest European sales numbers continue to plummet to multiyear low, as Chinese EVs soar

Fast Company

06-05-2025

New Tesla car sales plunged across Europe in April even as sales of other electric vehicle brands soared, in part due to backlash against CEO Elon Musk's support for Europe's far-right politics, as well as growing competition from both European and Chinese EV carmakers, according to Reuters.
Last month, Tesla's new car sales in the U.K. and Germany tanked to their lowest in over two years, falling 62% and 46% year on year, respectively, even as demand in both countries rose for EVs.
And in Spain, there was more bad news for Tesla, with new sales falling 36% in April 2025 compared with the the same month a year earlier, according to data from ANFAC, the Spanish Association of Automobile and Truck Manufacturers, as reported by Reuters.
Shares of Tesla stock (NYSE: TSLA), which have been a roller-coaster ride since the beginning of the year, were down about 3% in midday trading on Tuesday at the time of this writing.
Tesla's billionaire CEO Elon Musk's politics, both at home and abroad, have cost him dearly. Americans have continued to boycott Tesla and protest Musk, angered by his role in the Trump administration and his so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has ordered widespread layoffs of government workers and slashed federal budgets, wreaking havoc on the government's ability to function both efficiently and effectively.
In Europe, where Musk has shown support for far-right politics, just as in the United States, Europeans have been protesting and boycotting the EV carmaker, in addition to vandalizing Tesla showrooms and charging stations.
Musk has pledged to cut back on his government meddling, but for now it seems the damage to his reputation and company is already done. A look at the numbers shows that despite Tesla still being one of the largest electric car manufacturers in the world, its market share is weakening, especially in Europe.
Earlier this month, the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association confirmed that Tesla sales fell 49% in Europe in the first two months of 2025, despite the fact that overall EV sales in Europe were up 28%.
April's numbers showed where exactly that pain point was. Tesla sales plunged an eye-popping 81% in Sweden, to their lowest since October 2022, and were down 73.8% in the Netherlands when compared with the same month last year. Sales fell 67% and 59%, respectively, in Denmark and France, and 33% in Portugal.
In the first quarter of 2025, Tesla sales in Spain fell 17%, while electrified vehicles sales, of both hybrid and electric vehicles, were up a whopping 54%. Chinese EV automakers BYD, MG, and Omoda were up 644%, 80%, and 346% so far this year, respectively, per ANFAC.