Elon Musk’s automaker loses space in the European Union despite the advance of electric cars; Participation of the entrepreneur in the Trump government disrupted
Tesla goes through a difficult time despite the high of electric vehicles. After losing the industry’s global leader post to BYD in 2024, Elon Musk’s automaker also saw the Chinese competitor to overcome her 1st sales in Europe, where the battery cars have over 60% of the market slice.
In April 2025, Tesla sold only 7,261 units on the continent – European Union, United Kingdom, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland. It is a 49% drop compared to the same month of the previous year. Already the BYD registered up 59%, with almost 15,300 units. The data are from (European Association of Automobile Manufacturers) and the consultancy.
Europe is one of the regions with the most tax incentives and benefits for owners of electric and hybrid car, especially Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Nordic countries. The result is that, in April this year, 60.8% of the cars registered on the continent has battery engine. Electrics add up to 17%.
In the European Union clipping, slices fall to 58.5% and 15.3%, respectively. Tesla, however, does not follow this growth. The US company was responsible for only 0.6% of car sales in the EU last month. There were 5,475 vehicles registered in the 27 countries of the European bloc.
Tesla had a significant fall compared to the 18,224 units sold in March and April 11,540 2024. In the previous 12 months, the automaker’s market share ranged from 0.9% to 3.9%. The peak was in September, with 31,555 cars registered in the EU.
From January to April 2025, the musk company sold 41,677 cars in the European block – 46.1% in the same period of the previous year. The market share was 1.1% after closing 2024 with 2.3%. That is, Tesla’s car registration fell more than half this year. Read more in the infographic below:
Competition and musk in politics
There are 2 main factors that influence Tesla’s melting in the European and global market: competitiveness in the electric car industry and the political binding of Elon Musk’s image to Tesla.
The 1st point is explained by the increase in automakers who produce and sell hybrid and electric cars and the infrastructure advance, especially in the old continent. While Tesla saw a 46.1% drop in new cars records in the 1st quarter of the year, electric cars generally grew 25.4% and totaled more than 558 thousand units.
According to Jato Dynamics, the US company was only the 11th with the most electric vehicles sold in April. It was immediately behind BYD. The industry’s leadership is from Volkswagen. The German automaker sold more than 107,000 vehicles in the month, with 23,514 electric.
If you count all Volkswagen group companies, there were more than 58,000 EVs sold in 1 month. The conglomerate has 3 assemblers among the 4 largest in the sector in the European Union. The German luxury brand Audi is the 3rd and Czech Skoda, the 4th.
The group is responsible for producing the 4 best selling electric cars in the block. The most successful model of Tesla is Model Y, 9th in the ranking. Model 3 is the 24th. The problem is the number of limited options of the Texan company. BYD, which has sold more cars than the American competitor, has no model among the 25 most popular.
The 2nd problem of the US automaker is its owner and CEO. Elon Musk made Tesla the largest automaker in the world in market value, with clearance for Japanese Toyota, in 2nd place on the list. Nevertheless, Musk’s political positions remove Tesla from part of consumers.
The entrepreneur’s entry into the government of US President Donald Trump (Republican) did not help. Since Musk assumed the position of counselor of Doge (Department of Government Efficiency) in January 2025, Tesla has been the target of attacks in the US and Europe.
At least 5 US states recorded acts of vandalism against cars, dealers and Tesla loading stations in 2025: Washington, Oregon, South Carolina, Colorado and Nevada. There were also protests in Italy, Germany and France, with the burning of vehicles of the Texan automaker.
A movement of peaceful demonstrations against the musk company entitled (overthrows Tesla, free translation) was also created. Brand vehicle owners began to paste adhesives to express that they do not agree with the CEO, as showed.
Elon Musk on Wednesday (28.MAI) the departure of the Trump administration. His term of Doge was scheduled to last 130 days and would end on Friday (30.MAI). “I would like to thank President Donald Trump for the opportunity”said the entrepreneur on his profile at X.
