Tesla sales in Germany dropped 41% in 2024

https://www.cleanenergywire.org/news/tesla-registrations-plummet-41-percent-germany-2024-company-slides-ev-ranking

by belter • 1 year ago

61 103 1 year ago

Part of this is probably that Germany is in a recession. Overall EV registrations are down 27%, and with Tesla skewing higher in price, it would make sense they're more impacted in an economy where people have less money to spend.

Doesn't feel like a Tesla-specific issue to me. No matter how much people dislike Musk's antics, it probably only explains a small part of this.

jaggs• 1 year ago

Oh absolutely. No question. Definitely.

jjcob2• 1 year ago

I think it's mostly about BMW electrifying their lineup. People have options now if they want a premium EV.

big_paps• 1 year ago

Whatever you buy, you buy a part of lifestyle and self definition. If you buy a Tesla today in Germany, you will be identified as alt right. And these are the people which may habe fewer financial ressources and cant afford one.

Lanolderen4• 1 year ago

I honestly think most people don't care. Especially to cause a 41% drop.. If someone calls me a nazi in the LIDL car park for driving a Tesla I'd honestly think it's because of my shiny bald head, not the car.

threeseed2• 1 year ago

Whatever you buy, you buy a part of lifestyle and self definition

And people on average have their car for 10 years.

It's not hard to see why people would not want to take the risk on such a big decision.

michaelt3• 1 year ago

And even if I'm a serene, ascetic monk who is completely immune to trends and marketing, without a care in the world about other people judging me on my possessions, and I make my decision on purely objective grounds?

Well, I've still got to think about resale value. Being indifferent to car colour at a personal level means I'd choose silver, not barbie pink.

ozim2• 1 year ago

I really like how just few year back and definition was "happy green left wing" and Musk did bait and switch on all those people.

Maybe people will start thinking twice before they buy shit :)

dax_2• 1 year ago

As someone who owns a Model 3, I hate how Musk constantly comes up when talking about the car (and never in a positive light). Frankly I find the brand so damaged now because of his behavior, that this will be my last Tesla. I don't want to be pushed into an "right wing" category simply because of a purchase decision I made 5 years ago.

Sure there are other factors, such as more competition, and overall a slowdown of adoption of EV cars, but I have am fairly certain that Musk is one of the big factors of this sales drop. Price/value wise I still find Teslas incredibly attractive. This would be an interesting topic for a big survey if my opinion is in any way representative.

Rygian• 1 year ago

I find myself in the same boat, where I am increasingly concerned that people will identify me in the political spectrum of current days based on the car I chose to buy in 2019.

lelanthran• 1 year ago

I don't want to be pushed into an "right wing" category simply because of a purchase decision I made 5 years ago.

Looks like bullying people works. Use enough shaming language and normal people will generally fall in like e whether they agree or not.

threeseed2• 1 year ago

Tesla sales dropped in Australia 17% in 2024.

And if you exclude them the overall EV market grew by 32%.

It definitely is the combination of Chinese competition and Musk's antics.

2muchcoffeeman• 1 year ago

I honestly don’t think Tesla sales would have dropped if it was a sound economic decision. But BYD is so much cheaper. If you need a car now, Musk antics just push you over the edge. I get to save a few thousand dollars and not give my money to this lunatic.

senectus1• 1 year ago

I bought a brand new EV in 2024 for 30k.

I love it. it gets me to work and back, and the shops for free.

So very glad i didnt overshoot and buy a tesla.

scarab924• 1 year ago

Tesla sales only dropping 17% after BYD launched here is surprising.

BYD’s launch was aggressive with several new models and significantly cheaper pricing.

mgoetzke2• 1 year ago

And there was an artifical bump in 2023 due to regulations, which pulled forward demand, some sold to other EU countries and companies never bought many Teslas while most new car sales in Germany have been fleet sales since forever

lrtha• 1 year ago

Yes, no one has money and electricity prices are too high. We all know of course what could fix the German energy crisis. The German party that Musk supports polls at 22% and wishes to reopen Nord Stream.

The rising popularity scares the established parties enough to suddenly support immigration controls. Also, suddenly Denmark gave a permit to Russia to seal Nord Stream 2 and possibly repair it. Naturally this is opposed by Poland, who wants to dismantle Nord Stream completely while keeping its own transit pipelines intact. The hypocrisy in the oil/gas business knows no bounds.

tokai• 1 year ago

The seal has nothing to do with repairing it.

OKRainbowKid• 1 year ago

Are you talking about the party that wants to tear down all wind turbines (among the cheapest way to generate power), in favor of coal and nuclear (among the most expensive ways to generate power) for purely ideological reasons?

yoavm• 1 year ago

The actual report, linked from the article, hints that it is a Tesla specific issue.

https://www.n-tv.de/wirtschaft/Zulassungszahlen-des-Kraftfah...

belter4• 1 year ago

Doesn't feel like a Tesla-specific issue to me.

It is a Tesla-specific issue: "...With a share of nearly 10 percent of all EV registrations, Tesla dropped to third place in Germany in 2024, after already ceding its pole position in 2022. Total EV registrations fell 27 percent to 381,000, a development that was partly driven by the end of e-car purchase premiums in late 2023.

However, some carmakers bucked the downward trend: Germany’s BMW overtook Telsa by registering just over 40,000 cars and claiming a market share of over 11 percent. Swedish brand Volvo also greatly increased its registrations, although at a lower total volume of only about 14,000 registrations. Germany’s largest car company VW defended its leading position in the country’s EV market with roughly 62,000 registrations and a market share of over 16 percent..."

maeil2• 1 year ago

It's expected that German brands are popular but that even Volvo gains so much ground is interesting. Is it due to the zero import tax between EU countries? Are those Volvos still even made in Sweden (or EU)? In the US, it seems like Hyundai/Kia have gained a lot of ground, along with non-Tesla US brands like Ford.

ozim2• 1 year ago

When I read the article it is "connecting dots" with Musk’s political ambitions have damaged the image of Telsa as a progressive and environmentally-friendly company in Germany and elsewhere.

So article has thesis and numbers were playing nice - whether political ambitions moved the numbers or there is something more substantial seems like it doesn't matter for the author.

rsynnott5• 1 year ago

BMW and Volvo saw increases, and would generally be operating in the same sort of price ranges as Tesla.

onemoresoop• 1 year ago

Tesla is great in few areas but overall it’s such a crappy car so no wonder germans caught up to it, they do have a bit of an option with their own cars.

mgoetzke2• 1 year ago

Spoken like someone who doesnt have one and never drove a German car before. I have switched from BMW (and I drove a lot of them, my dad used to sell them).

earthnail3• 1 year ago

Don’t know why this is being downvoted. I really wanted to get a BMW. The total price itself was no issue for me at all, but I just couldn’t justify paying a premium for a car that in parts feels bad. The software stack is horrible.

Got a Skoda instead. Its software is also horrible but at least it was a bargain.

h0l0cube2• 1 year ago

All ICEs are Rube Goldberg machines, especially the high-performance brands. It's a miracle of engineering that they run at all.

mleroy• 1 year ago

On the bright side, the No. 1 car sticker on German Amazon right now is: "I BOUGHT THIS BEFORE ELON WENT CRAZY."

_ache_4• 1 year ago

Need to be update to "I Bought This Before Elon Went Nazi".

siva7• 1 year ago

Germans use this word more responsibly than americans.

SlightlyLeftPad2• 1 year ago

Poetry.

cassianoleal• 1 year ago

Should be "I bought this before I realised Elon is crazy" instead.

Honestly, the Bolivia coup tweet should have been enough.

nottorp• 1 year ago

Musk’s political ambitions have damaged the image of Telsa

Is it that, or is it because the Germans have had time to figure out how crappy the build quality of a Tesla is, and are getting more options from other manufacturers?

("Telsa" typo pasted from the original article)

RoryH• 1 year ago

It's multiple factors I believe, aside from this one here's some more:

- German EV government subsidies were reduced considerably (possibly removed?) in Dec 2023

- Other manufacturers are catching up to Tesla in many areas.

amriksohata3• 1 year ago

not as simple as that, germanys economy is suffering, ev sales are down overall, more ev competitors, most people dont watch musk on the news and care to link the two between tesla and him

kbf• 1 year ago

Not german, but my parents reason for getting rid of their tesla this week was Musk going crazy

Ekaros• 1 year ago

So when will the stock price correct closer to realistic valuation compared to competition? Sales dropping isn't future growth...

comandillos• 1 year ago

Guys, there is no Tax benefit / Umweltbonus in Germany anymore, and EV sales also plummeted as hell in the country.

People just want to buy whichever is the best price/quality EV out there, they dont care who or what the CEO says most of the time.

This is not politics, is economics.

madaxe_again• 1 year ago

It’s kinda politics, as in Portugal, for instance, you can get a subsidy on pretty much any EV except for a Tesla - and it’s hard to see that as anything other than politically motivated.

belter4• 1 year ago

Not politics, as I suspect you are probably aware.

In Portugal, electric vehicle (EV) subsidies are available for new battery electric vehicles (BEVs) priced up to €62,500, including VAT. This means that higher-priced models, such as Tesla vehicles, do not qualify for these incentives.

The primary reason for this price cap is to ensure that public funds are used to make EVs more accessible to a broader segment of the population, rather than subsidizing luxury vehicles.

https://blog.wallbox.com/portugal-ev-incentives/

earthnail3• 1 year ago

Disagree. Teslas used to be the car of choice for your average Green party voter. It’s the voter class that can afford this car. Elon is a persona non grata in these circles, and the alt right (on average) can’t afford this type or car.

locallost• 1 year ago

The average green party voter does not really drive. They live in cities and take public transport. On average of course.

hermitcrab• 1 year ago

Anecdata: I am interested in buying an EV. I have completely ruled out getting a Tesla, purely on the basis of Musk's behaviour. I'm in the UK. Given the history, I suspect that many Germans looking for EVs are even more sensitive to his behaviour than I am.

xienze3• 1 year ago

People just want to buy whichever is the best price/quality EV out there, they dont care who or what the CEO says most of the time.

Yes, most people think this way. However, what you have to remember is that virtue signaling is a thing. For years driving a Tesla was both a flex about how much money you made and how you were a good person, "ahead of the curve", and cared deeply about the planet. Whether these people want to admit it or not, a lot of their identity was expressed through the simple act of driving a Tesla.

Now that identity has, to others in their social circle, become synonymous with "Trump supporter" because of Musk. Hence a lot of Tesla's early supporters or "core demographic", if you will, is desperate to either dump their Teslas or make it VERY clear that they will never buy one.

maeil2• 1 year ago

What I haven't seen mentioned here yet - there's also a (smaller) cohort of people who genuinely believed the lies that Musk peddled regarding upcoming self-driving functionality and are unhappy about having been scammed. I anecdotally know someone (not German) who opted for a Ford EV over Tesla, not because he cared about Musk but because he didn't trust it as a car brand in general, which I think is pretty justified.

SlightlyLeftPad2• 1 year ago

Yeah, I mean it should be adequately clear now that was a grift.

piva002• 1 year ago

In my circle I know at least two Swedes who bought Teslas in 2017-2018 completely believing in the "your car will be self-driving and earning money for you instead of being parked", both feel scammed and got rid of their Model S last year, one got a Polestar and the other a Porsche Taycan.

If I know personally two wealthy people who felt conned by this move then, just by sheer statistics, there are many others around.

stevage2• 1 year ago

With a share of nearly 10 percent of all EV registrations, Tesla dropped to third place in Germany in 2024, after already ceding its pole position in 2022. Total EV registrations fell 27 percent to 381,000, a development that was partly driven by the end of e-car purchase premiums in late 2023.
However, some carmakers bucked the downward trend: Germany’s BMW overtook Telsa by registering just over 40,000 cars and claiming a market share of over 11 percent. Swedish brand Volvo also greatly increased its registrations, although at a lower total volume of only about 14,000 registrations. Germany’s largest car company VW defended its leading position in the country’s EV market with roughly 62,000 registrations and a market share of over 16 percent. Mercedes reached the fourth rank in registrations with 34,000 vehicles.

Boy a table would really have helped. Finding it difficult to tell from all this text whether this is actually a significant change or not. And whether we even need to look at Musk's personal brand to explain it.

amriksohata3• 1 year ago

Bit misleading reading this on first take, firstly Germany is a smaller market than the US/China for Tesla. Secondly EV sales have fallen worldwide, so stats stats and damned stats!

bryanlarsen3• 1 year ago

Secondly EV sales have fallen worldwide

EV sales are up 25% worldwide in 2024.

Tesla sales in Germany dropped 41% in 2024

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