Tesla’s new car sales dropped by 45% across Europe from 18,161 to 9,945 units year-on-year in January.
The US electric vehicle brand’s share price has dropped by 9% and the company has been swept up by wider controversy caused by the company’s chief executive Elon Musk, following a controversial hand salute as part of President Donald Trump’s inauguration rally towards the end of January.
There is growing distaste with some Tesla customers that are unhappy with Musk’s actions and viewpoints.
Polestar’s CEO has told Bloomberg that sales teams should take advantage of disgruntled customers and directly target Tesla owners that might be happy to make a brand switch.
The controversy provoked by the Trump rally can’t fully explain the drop in sales across the EU, but the brand is also facing stiff competition from all areas of the market, including established car brands, as well as many new entrants from China.
The sales data was provided by European trade body ACEA, where the wider EV market actually grew across Europe by 34% to 124,341 units, capturing a 15% market share.
Tesla is looking to address its declining sales by launching “more affordable models” in the first half of this year.
For the first time, Tesla reported a year-over-year decline in vehicle deliveries in 2024, hitting 1.78 million – 19,000 fewer than the previous year, as concerns mounted around the company’s ability to maintain its leadership position within the increasingly competitive electric vehicle (EV) sector.
The new cars are intended to boost Tesla’s annual output by more than 60% to around three million cars.
In its latest quarterly update earlier this month, the carmaker said that “plans for new vehicles, including more affordable models, remain on track for start of production in the first half of 2025″.
It explained that these new, more affordable vehicles will use aspects of the next generation platform as well as aspects of our current Model 3 and Model Y platforms, and will be produced on the same manufacturing lines as its current vehicle line-up.
There had been suggestions the EV manufacturer had decided against bringing an entry-level, low-cost Tesla to market, favouring the development of its self-driving “Cybercab” (pictured above) instead.
There has been speculation that there could be a new Model Q that would be a compact EV, like a smaller version hatch of the Model Y, that would be priced below £24,000.
