Early car sales data for January is starting to arrive from countries across the pond, and they paint an alarming picture for Tesla. Sales are crashing in France, Germany, and the UK—all affluent countries that are key markets for Tesla’s electric vehicles. Coming on the heels of a large financial miss, it’s just one more problem for the automaker.
Tesla sales dropped around 13 percent across Europe in 2024, but so far this year, the scale of the problem is far greater. In France, sales of new Teslas fell by 63 percent, while total car sales in the country fell by just 6 percent, with EV sales dropping just half a percent.
Germany was already looking like lost ground for Tesla—its 41 percent drop in 2024 accounted for most of Tesla’s lost sales across Europe. That must make the 59 percent drop in German Tesla sales recorded during January even more painful on the profit and loss statements.
Across the Channel, the British auto industry just released its sales data for January. Here, Tesla sales fell less precipitously—just 12 percent. However, battery EV sales were 35 percent higher in the UK in January 2025 than in January 2024. The cake is growing, but Tesla is getting to eat less and less of it.
In fact, no Tesla cracked the UK’s top 10 best-seller list last month, something that has regularly happened in the past, although that may be due to having just two models for >sale in most markets.
Large declines have also been recorded in Sweden (44 percent), Norway (38 percent), and the Netherlands (42 percent).
Tesla doesn’t deserve to tarnish the great inventor’s name. Elon more specifically. But who knows, possibly the company’s management team are all mini Elons. The workers they are not at fault.
“Europe and the UK” did they move the UK to another continent, or did they mean the EU?
You know exactly what was meant.
So, I hate to be the breaker of bad news, but the UK has left the EU 🤷 Don’t shoot the messenger
Read the comment. EU - maybe, but not the Europe,how do you leave a continent?
Give it a couple million years of plate tectonics.
The UK and Ireland are part of the same plate as Europe. Anyway 2 million isn’t even that much time for continental drift, If you traveled back in time to the Jurassic that wouldn’t be a significant difference between the layout of the continents then and the layouts of the continents now.
Or maybe if everyone jumps up in the air at the same time.
EU ≠ Europe
Europe is a continent. The European Union is a group of countries in Europe, no longer including the UK.
Maps like this are the only way my feeble American brain can process complicated European things.
While entirely correct, the Irish get very antsy about being included in the British Isles. It’s a “colonial relic” is probably the nicest version. So yes the map is correct from a British pov but not from an Irish one.
Great Britain and the British Isles are geographical terms, not political ones. Sometimes publications will say Great Britain to mean England, Scotland, and Wales, but not Northern Ireland but they also don’t include things like the Isle of Man in that even though technically Great Britain does include the Isle of Man.
Unless the conversation is explicitly about geography, and land masses you should not use anything other than the United Kingdom.
Great Britain is the name of the big island that England, Wales and mainland Scotland sits on. The British Isles include Great Britain, the Isle of Man (and also Ireland, the Isle of Wight, the Hebrides, the Shetlands, the Isles of Scilly and (debatably) the Channel Islands.
Unless the conversation is explicitly about geography, and land masses you should not use anything other than the United Kingdom.
You’re not the boss of me, bruv. The United Kingdom doesn’t encompass the Crown Dependencies (Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man) which have the same monarch as the UK but are (at least within certain limits) self-governing. So if I want to talk about them (and sometimes I do, my conversation occasionally involves tax shelters and motorcycle races), restricting myself to the UK won’t be sufficient to include them.
Ukraine is a candidate country, by the way. Since June 2022.
https://enlargement.ec.europa.eu/european-neighbourhood-policy/countries-region/ukraine_en
This post unfortunately leaves out the all important Council of Europe (not to be confused with the European Council). 😉
The EU one has camo painted seas, so I needed several seconds for my understanding of “what is where” kicked in. I wonder how they got this stupid idea
It’s probably a more accurate colour anyway. I’ve seen the channel, it is mostly just gray.
Yes but not the continent despite what certain people would like
Except for Jutland, the same could be said of the 400+ islands that make up Denmark. Yet Denmark is universally regarded as part of Europe, despite the main landmass/island pedantry.
The islands are still on the same plate, so they are still on the same continent.
You see there was this little thing called Brexit…
Oh right, is that when they moved to a different tectonic plate?
Yes.
Oh I see what you’re saying. Yeah, they probably should have said EU but it’s a little pedantic to pretend you didn’t know.
Welcome to the internet.
The UK is technically on a few islands, one can use Gibraltar to argue, of course, and historically English crown did possess lots of land in Normandy, Anjou, Aquitaine and even Flanders, also that union with Hannover, but ahem.
Bunch of EU countries have land outside the mainland though
Most of their land you mean? EU yes, Europe has many definitions
Their news cars are more expensive and more weird than the old ones, while the competition has been catching up, so it might be that, too…
Well for obvious reasons. But also bcs their product is crap quality. My neighbour keeps on pouring grand after grand for stupid repairs into his model S
That can’t be, teslas never break and don’t need maintenance. Many people said it, smart people
May every business that brings this man profit tank until he learns some empathy.
Rich people don’t have human emotions.
Being rich literally turns you into a sociopath or psycopath.
Hoarding that much excess wealth induces mental disorders.
The only solution is to redistribute their wealth
Hoarding that much excess wealth induces mental disorders.
I was wondering if epigenetics may speak to that, in some cases
The only solution is to redistribute their wealth.
For the rest of us. I’m curious if it addresses the sociopathic tendencies of the original wealth hoarder?
ETA: that was a quick search for that study and I certainly don’t understand it well.
I don’t think taking away their money would instantly fix their sociopathic tendencies, but it would allow them to actually engage with real human society again and the community and experiences from that would help to build empathy again.
But the reason for stripping them of their wealth is that they’re dangerous, we don’t give nukes to violent schizophrenics.
But the reason for stripping them of their wealth is that they’re dangerous, we don’t give nukes to violent schizophrenics.
This is being very vividly illustrated, irl.
Doing a from-heart-to-sun salute tends to hurt sales in UK and Germany, who woulda thought. The stereotype about French is that they don’t care and might even like it, but maybe this is also about build and design quality.
What stereotype?
White-flag secretly-fascist Vichy one
Ah, the historically inaccurate, war criminal powered (Bush), meme. I forgot it included also a taste for the Vichy regime.
Strange to mention that and ignore Germany, the country that, you know, back then and now, has always been way more on the right than France.
“Punish France, ignore Germany” is still the current policy.
Germany lost, so it won’t be funny for them.
You may want to read the text before commenting nonsense, the French are not pleased either.
| Sales are crashing in France, Germany, and the UK […] In France, sales of new Teslas fell by 63 percent
I don’t see what justify your attack, it seems unnecessary to attack people based on their nationality. Yes, we do have a far-right issue in France, but it’s pretty much the same as everywhere else in Europe and there is still a resisting left here, not all hope is lost. Also, regarding your comment below, the white flag stereotype for France comes from 2003, when the US and allies invaded and destroyed Irak, but for once France stood against the US imperialism.
___the white flag stereotype for France comes from 2003
It actually comes (unfairly) from the French army mutinies of 1917 and (also unfairly) from France’s surrender to Hitler in 1940, in addition to their not joining in the fun in Iraq. All of which obscures a prior thousand-year history of kicking the shit out of people.
Thanks, I was not aware of that.
Yeah I’m glad the other guy replied with more details because my fuzzy memory was telling me that the French surrendering stereotype was around back in the 90s at least, but I was pretty young then and it was hard to remember.
I was just joking, but you forgot to say that this
kicking the shit out of people
can be made more specific, they were regularly kicking the shit out of Germans. Germans were the suffering side saying “thanks for punishing me, master” for most of those years. Not even counting, obviously, Normans kicking the shit out of English.
It’s a joke, it’s supposed to be grotesque. Grotesque is usually different from adequate to reality.
That’s first, second, my comment does incorporate the fact that the French are not pleased either. You may want to improve your skills of processing two-sentence comments.
Oops, this one is four sentences, I guess it’s going to hurt.
Yeah, fascism seems to be flourishing all over. I’ve never got the impression that France was any worse than anywhere else though.
You know it was the French revolution that popularised the guillotine as a means of dealing with wealthy elites?
But yeah I don’t see how Tesla is going to ever repair the damage to their image, unless they can kick musk out and that doesn’t seem likely.
Make a product line of electric guillotines? And dogfood with Musk.
Anyway, the French revolution is not considered a one-sided success.
Let’s get to 95% down in Q1 of 2025.
Biggest decline in my country is because lease companies don’t like them in their fleet anymore; Musk has just randomly reduced prices in the past, making it difficult to estimate the remaining value at the end of the lease term. On the other hand business drivers used to have a generous tax exemption when driving an EV, which has been cut by our government. These drivers may now be better of driving an ICE. All in all this reduces the market share of Tesla drastically, since Tesla’s are almost exclusively used as company lease cars.
This sparks joy.
Or sparks fire, considering it’s Tesla
Honestly people would have to be basically mad to buy tesla now, same with twitter etc.
I sympathise with people who starlink is the only option but yeah I’d rather go without.
I recently bought a camper van and was planning on getting starlink so I can work from the road (not full time). I guess I’ll have to make sure I’m not off the beaten path on work days and stick to Hotspot.
Yeah sad thing is I can understand Starlink being the only option for some people, so yeah I wouldn’t blame you for using it.
This is the way. I wish more people would accept what is quite literally only minor inconvenience in the name of starving these insane companies. We honestly have it so good in most of modern society, and some things are just totally optional imo.
Thanks
Its investment in the Cybertruck is of no help in the region, as the steel-clad pickup truck is too large and heavy for use with a normal driver’s license and does not conform to road legality regulations.
I was not aware of this. Further reasons to laugh at Musk are always welcome!
Can’t wait to hear soldiers killing people in Ramstein driving these.
Yeah technically it’s a HGV, and you need an HGV license in order to be able to drive it.
Although apparently the other problem is that it has red indicators, because in the US they don’t have separate lights for brakes and indicators they just flash the brake light.
Most cars have yellow lights for indicators and red for brakes. Even for the US having red indicators is at least uncommon.
No it’s not. I see red turning indicators waaay more often than yellow ones.
You live somewhere with a lot of trucks? Most cars and suvs have separate ones, i don’t remember the last time I saw a red indicator other than on a semi. I see a lot of people not bother to indicate but the yellow or orange is there.
Montreal but also lived in Toronto for four years. It’s red blinkers everywhere, annoying as heck.
Not that many trucks, I guess. Are we talking about trucks only? I might be wrong then. Mostly crossover SUVs.
Anyone driving anything close to a pickup here is a knob. Ford Rangers or Raptors are for men whos wives dress them.
Hilux was acceptable but they are in the same boat now, you all look ridiculous.
I used to have a proton jumbuck, it was a really handy pickup and the same size as a regular car. But it’s hard to find parts for em in the UK. It’s a shame there aren’t many sensibly-sized pickups.
But yeah, I kind of think most people who have massive ones that only get used for school run and supermarket are knobs.
They have there place, but they are in the same boat as vans etc. They are commercial vehicles, to do a job, not city runabouts to stroke egos.
Yeah, get a van. The only people on site with these are lads with more money than work, mammy and daddy funded, or the developer who wouldnt see concrete dust land on it.
A van can’t deal with even remotely muddy grass. I lost count of how many vans I rescued, back when I had my pickup. They are also a lot less effective at dragging a horse trailer etc. Vans also (generally) don’t have back seats. If you’re also having to trek up and down the motorways, then the comfort of the ranger makes a big difference.
Our plant hire is delivered by a 20 year old mondeo. Van have more room for the work stuff and are plenty comfortable for motorway travel. Our off road vehicles are outlanders and vans are everything from mercedes to renault. Never had a problem that a pick up would have resolved.
Mate my wife dresses me but categorising me with them POS trucks is just too far.
Yeah man I didnt mean to do that, mine dresses me too…or rather she would do a better job of it anyway
Pretty much true in the US too - especially a Raptor.
The only acceptable vehicle is a range rover, and even then it has to have mud on it.
I’m a sole trader, Stone Mason, I make enough to buy a used vehicle, but not new. Know what I would love? A light duty truck, no crew cab road princess bullshit, two seats in front, maybe a single half door passenger side for putting stuff behind the seats, and a properly sized bed. There’s no such thing on the used market. There’s absolutely uses for small trucks for trades folk. Back in Canada I had an older Ford Ranger, from when they were a rebadged Mitsubishi B3200. I would step over my dying gran for something like that here in the UK. The new Rangers are a fucking joke, FWD, crew cab standard, and they’re the size of the old F-150s, completely unusable in the UK. I’m thinking about maybe importing a Japanese Kei Truck. There’s some larger ones that are smaller than an old Ranger, but big enough for what I need…and they look cool AF.
A family member’s a brickie. He ran an LDV Pilot for few years, until it died, and it was useful (piece of shit, but pretty reliable, and cheap to fix when it did break) while it lasted. But newer trucks and small vans aren’t nearly as suitable.
The Pilot was ugly as fuck, but from what I’ve heard they were basically indestructible to a certain point…then there was almost no reviving them. Been considering getting a decommissioned ambulance and changing my trading name to Dr. Stone…
Ambulance is basically set up for a mobile shop, 240 and 110, loads of drawers and cupboards, tie-down points and either a fold down ramp or a hydraulic tailgate. Ambulance services are always refreshing their fleet, they get worked hard, but there’s a maintenance standard so even with 180k miles on the Odo they’re typically not running poorly. Idk…maybe I’m talking myself into it, maybe it’s actually a good idea.
@Sturgist @Squizzy #Suzuki #MightyBoy has entered the chat https://www.teammightyboy.com/suzuki-mightyboy-history.html
It’s so cute!
I used to have a proton jumbuck, really useful little pickup. But they’re hard to find in the UK and getting parts can be tricky.
Yeah, easy access to parts is pretty important.
…I had to look it up, it looks like one of the guys who worked on the design of the El Camino smooth talked someone in C-Suite that it was their own idea that releasing one that was modernised would sell super well. That might sound like I’m taking potshots, but I love the El Camino and I would buy a Jumbuck in a heartbeat.
Yeah, el Caminos look proper cool. TBH I thought my jumbuck looked pretty cool too. And it was really useful, at the time I was hauling a lot of wood and it drove just fine with a heavy load. I think it was maybe a 1.2 petrol engine iirc. They are pretty cheap if you can find them, I sold mine with 6 months MOT for about £500 . But yeah, parts are tricky, which isn’t great with a work vehicle
I had a Mazda Pricidia (MX-3) for a few years before I bought the Ranger. Thing was great. I had the rear seat pulled out and got a joiner pal build a custom wooden bed to put in. Did double duty, was enough to hold a week’s worth of veneer stone and thinset plus my tools. Built-in storage boxes under the top. And with the front seats folded all the way forward there was an extra piece I could drop in, and all of a sudden you’ve got enough space for a double size inflatable camping mattress. I miss that thing.
Yeah that sounds like a pretty decent solution. I know someone who did something similar to a Volvo estate. Bit crazy though that we’ve got to modify old vehicles to get a suitable work motor - seems like a gap in the market. VW made some sensible size pickups back in the 80s - but like the jumbuck they are old now. I hate to say it, but you might do better with a transit or sprinter. It’s enclosed space but you’ve got room for tools n stuff.
Let’s see how big of a mouth you run when i pull up in my ranger plastered with punisher skulls you beta 😎😎 jkdon’tbullymepls
Pickups have their uses in Europe as well. Where I live, it seems like most pest controllers (rat catchers, an easy to clean open trunk is probably very nice) and land surveyors prefer them over other vehicles. They all use smaller sensible size pickups from Japanese brands though.
I think I’ve spotted only 2 different modern USA oversized pickups in traffic. Both full black, never a speck of dirt on them, always tailgating someone. They are vastly outnumbered by the sensible pickups, but you just can’t miss spotting them in traffic.
This metal blob goes against so many safety regulations in Europe, it is basically unfixable. And even then you would need a truckers licence to drive it, like the ones for big commercial trucks.
I thought the Powerball and may even some solar stuff they were doing would suit our needs. The last few years quickly removed any such notion from my mind; not touching anything tied to that nazi manbaby
Anyone still driving a Tesla needs a bit of verbal abuse.
Maybe they just like the car. Not everything has to be political. Especially if they get it 2nd hand, the depreciation is huge. So someone could get a nice Tesla for great money. Doesn’t mean they like Elon or support him.
Buying 2nd hand is greener and doesn’t support him.
When the owner is that political, it becomes political though. “If 9 people sit at a table with one Nazi…” etc etc.
It does though, their most profitable (as in profit margin) businesses areas are the subscription based services and charging.
Sure, I’d judge someone if they bought a new one recently as well, but I think you’re being a bit unreasonable. Not everyone can afford to switch cars.
I don’t know about abuse but I do judge people with Teslas purchased in the last 5 years. Before that the completion was lacking and it was less evident to most people that the CEO is a cunt, but now even if you ignore Elon, it’s just a crazy purchase when all the other manufacturers have caught up in electric and arguably produce better vehicles with less issues.
I’d be interested to see some market analysis that looks into the reasons for the sales declines. In particular, how much is driven by poor product quality versus how much is due to Musk being a knobhead.
Tesla ownership is its own punishment.
Having competition tends to do that 🤷
