Tesla’s sales in Germany plunged 59 % in January, the month that Elon Musk, the company’s chief executive and a close adviser to President Trump, interrupted the Germans to focus too much on “previous guilt” for Nazi crimes and urged voters to support a nationalist party in the country’s general elections.
As Mr Musk intends to reduce the US budget through an initiative called by the government efficiency, the electric vehicles company it manages has firmly lost its market share across Europe.
Sales of the automotive industry declined to the three largest European electric cars in January.
In Germany, which hosts Tesla’s only factory in Europe, only 1,277 new Tesla vehicles were registered a month, the German Federal Transport Authority said on Wednesday. German consumers have instead turned to domestic and Chinese automakers for electric cars, which recorded a 54 % increase in demand in January.
Tesla’s sales decreased by 63 % in France in January from the previous year and 12 % in Britain, where Mr Musk Riled Prime Minister Keir Starmer through inflammatory social media positions.
Sweden, where the engineering’s strike against Tesla is now in the second year, saw the demand for its cars dissolve 44 % last month, while sales in Norway fell by 38 %.
The German buyers “may react to Musk comments” made in a right -wing alternative to German party days before the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz’s concentration camp, as well as a gesture he made after the aftermath Mr. Trump’s inauguration, widely interpreted as a Nazi greeting, wrote Schmidt Automotive Research in an exhibition.
Other, non -political actors could be available, including the consumer awaiting the updated model Y. is expected to be released by the end of March.
Decline is also remarkable in the United States, though not so sharp. In California, the largest American electric car market, Tesla’s sales have been declining for months. The registration of new Tesla vehicles decreased by 11.6 % there in 2024, even when total sales of electric cars and trucks rose by 1.2 %, according to the California new cars’ association.
Vika Baitz He contributed a report from New York.
