Tesla's sales plummet across Europe

https://www.ft.com/content/ea2329e4-b4bc-4e2d-be34-e9a8ea31129c

by mirzap • 1 year ago

41 40 1 year ago

ft.com

mirzap• 1 year ago

https://archive.ph/bclhi

ndsipa_pomu4• 1 year ago

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2025/02/tesla-sales-plummet-in-...

kalleboo• 1 year ago

And discussed here (168 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42952088

ndsipa_pomu4• 1 year ago

Thanks - I hadn't seen that on hn. It probably got removed from the frontpage for poor quality comments

Edit: this one is now flagged

roenxi• 1 year ago

This is probably driven by the ongoing energy crisis and other economic factors. If we look at electricity use [0] in Germany we see the same old evidence can be seen accross the Western world. Germany is producing the lowest amount of electricity in 40 years. Last time I checked their $/kW was also awkwardly high.

If the amount electricity available is dropping, are people really going to be adding large new energy-hungry appliances like electric vehicles? I'd suggest not. Shutting off all the nuclear plants still looks pretty dumb, even in hindsight.

[0] https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/electricity-prod-source-s...

jsnell• 1 year ago

The article says the EV sales in general grew by 50%. How does your theory explain that? Do other EVs use less electricity less Teslas?

biomene• 1 year ago

From the article:

Tesla’s drop came as the German EV market in January grew more than 50 per cent year on year, pushing its market share down from 14 to 4 per cent.

So to answer your question, it seems like people don't mind buying new electric vehicles. They just have a problem with Tesla in particular.

crustycoder• 1 year ago

How about reading the linked article before posting?

"Tesla’s drop came as the German EV market in January grew more than 50 per cent year on year, pushing its market share down from 14 to 4 per cent."

nonrandomstring• 1 year ago

No. It's due to widespread anti US-American sentiment. There's been a spate of vandalism of Tesla vehicles, scratching, daubing with slogans, smashing windows and arson. Sad for those who bought an EV to "help the planet" and are so cruelly judged by reactionary prejudice, but these cars have become a symbol of something utterly rotten. I know it's painful but perhaps you are underestimating how much visceral hatred there is out there toward Elon Musk?

ndsipa_pomu4• 1 year ago

I suspect that Musk has access to a lot of government funds now so will be unconcerned about the lack of Tesla sales.

stevage• 1 year ago

Tesla’s drop came as the German EV market in January grew more than 50 per cent year on year, pushing its market share down from 14 to 4 per cent.

Wow.

cjrp2• 1 year ago

[...] amid a consumer backlash against Elon Musk’s political activism and meddling in regional politics.

Hmm, not sure they can attribute the drop entirely to that. In the UK at least there's been a wave of Chinese brands launching (BYD, Omoda, GWM, etc.), fuel prices have fallen from the high in mid-2022[0], and EVs will soon start paying vehicle tax (£195/year, previously £0).

[0] https://www.racfoundation.org/data/uk-pump-prices-over-time

zfg3• 1 year ago

So you're saying it's exactly the wrong time for Musk to flip fascist salutes and meddle in European politics?

When buyers have a lot of choice of EV, why will they choose to buy a swasticar?

mytailorisrich5• 1 year ago

It's pretty clear that he did not do any sort of "fascist salute" but he is learning that in politics reality does not matter, only perception does and how often something is repeated so politicians are usually very careful...

Edit: "look exactly like" (reply below) is a QED to my point, really.

cjrp2• 1 year ago

I don't think there's ever a good time for that. I'm saying it's not clear that their drop in sales is because of him, or competition, or other factors.

thefz2• 1 year ago

I see also a general loss of interest of the population towards EVs. The technology is kinda new, yet they already arrive enshittified from the factory. Who wants touch screen hot air controls?

Besides, range concerns and a lack of charge stations are another nail in the coffin for EVs in the EU.

dasKrokodil• 1 year ago

Here in Germany, the somewhat paradox situation is that the right-wing party AfD has been pro-diesel and anti-ev for a long time, while it's usually the more progressive and/or left-leaning people who have been buying EVs.

But now that Musk has done something which looked very much like a Nazi salute on stage and also meddled in German politics by endorsing the AfD, nobody on the left wants to be seen in a Tesla anymore, while the right-wingers still prefer German diesel cars.

mytailorisrich5• 1 year ago

I was thinking the same looking at France's numbers. Who's more likely to buy a Tesla and who's more likely to hate Trump and Musk? (Also taking into account that some of France's very right wing politicians were invited at Trump's inauguration) Probably more overlap than Tesla would like... Especially now that you can buy something totally alien to this alleged ideology like a Volkswagen EV...

That's the risk when getting into politics while running a business.

baerrie• 1 year ago

Thank you Europe for protesting by withholding money from this psycho.

thefz2• 1 year ago

Vote with your wallet!

amriksohata• 1 year ago

ev sales are falling worldwide, this is bait journalism, germanys economy is also struggling

Tesla's sales plummet across Europe

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