Tesla gross sales in Europe have collapsed by one-third this 12 months, knowledge reveals, after Elon Musk warned the electrical carmaker confronted “a number of tough quarters” forward.
In keeping with the figures printed on Thursday by the European Car Producers’ Affiliation (ACEA), gross sales of Tesla autos in Europe slumped by 33% to 110,000 within the first half of 2025, in contrast with 165,000 within the first half of 2024.
The information suggests Tesla continues to be attempting to emerge from a gross sales rut in Europe, even after releasing a refreshed model of the Mannequin Y, its bestselling automotive. It isn’t the one carmaker struggling to tempt European prospects, with complete new automotive gross sales throughout the EU down by 7% in June.
Nonetheless, Tesla faces particular challenges. Musk, whose shares within the firm have made him the world’s richest man, has contributed to the decline by backing Europe’s far-right political events, and briefly allying himself with Donald Trump, who’s deeply unpopular throughout the continent.
The Tesla chief government’s alliance with Trump has since blown up spectacularly, whereas the corporate has come underneath strain within the US from the president’s anti-EV insurance policies.
Gross sales throughout Europe – together with the EU, UK, Norway and Switzerland – have been down for the US carmaker by greater than a fifth 12 months on 12 months in June, to 35,000.
Tesla shares fell by 8% at first of buying and selling on Wall Road on Thursday, after Musk stated on Wednesday evening that the electrical automotive pioneer “most likely may have a number of tough quarters” forward.
Musk linked falling earnings to Trump slashing the incentives obtainable for electrical carmakers.
The president’s tax and spending plans embrace a clampdown on gross sales of emissions credit by electrical automobile makers to extra closely polluting rivals, which had supplied billions of {dollars} of income for Tesla over a number of years.
Trump’s angle to Musk has been inconsistent. In a submit on Thursday on his Fact Social platform, which is a competitor to Musk’s X, he denied that he was harming Tesla.
“Everyone seems to be stating that I’ll destroy Elon’s firms by taking away some, if not all, of the big scale subsidies he receives from the US Authorities. This isn’t so!” he wrote. “I would like Elon, and all companies inside our Nation, to THRIVE.”
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The electrical automobile maker stated revenues fell by 12% within the second quarter in contrast with the identical interval final 12 months, coming in at $22.5bn (£16.6bn); beneath Wall Road expectations of $22.7bn. Working earnings additionally fell to $900m, a 42% lower since final 12 months.
The UK has been a uncommon vivid spot for Tesla in Europe, with gross sales down only one.3% 12 months on 12 months within the first half of 2025, based on the Society of Motor Producers and Merchants, the British business’s foyer group. But the image within the EU has been bleak: the ACEA knowledge confirmed Tesla gross sales have been down by 40% 12 months on 12 months in June within the EU, and 44% down within the first half of 2025.
Throughout all European markets, Tesla’s share of gross sales has dropped from 2.4% in 2024 to 1.6% in 2025 – though it might regain some floor as gross sales of the refreshed Mannequin Y decide up throughout the continent.
But reasonably than bettering the merchandise purchased by shoppers, Musk is pinning a lot of his hopes on future earnings from driverless taxis run by synthetic intelligence. The corporate has launched a pilot taxi programme in Austin, Texas, and Musk has repeatedly touted it as the corporate’s major alternative.
Matt Britzman, an fairness analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, an funding platform, stated Tesla’s second-quarter numbers have been “objectively poor”.
“The everyday playbook for the previous few quarters has been declining fundamentals however sufficient AI hype to maintain traders sleeping at evening,” he stated. “Tesla is in a really small cohort of firms with sufficient development potential that traders are, for now no less than, keen to look previous weakening core financials.”
