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It’s lather, rinse, repeat for Tesla sales this year as the April figures trickle in from Europe, continuing a downward slide that surprises nobody who has been paying attention to rising competition from other EV makers along with Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s role in the Trump-Musk administration.
Check out CleanTechnica’s detailed roundup of European EV sales in March here.
Tesla Sales Went Down In Europe Again, So What Else Is New?
Reuters is among the news organizations scooping April’s Tesla sales figures in Europe, reporting the disaster under the headline “Musk’s EV brand struggling with stiff China competition.”
Hasty readers who only skim headlines may think that Reuters has skipped over the part where Musk’s starring role in Trump’s authoritarian plan for the US government has contributed to the ongoing sales slump.
Well, they didn’t skip it over. “Europeans protest against Musk’s political views,” reads the subheading.
Tesla’s European Sales Figures Are In, And They Stink
The Reuters team did note that deliveries of the much anticipated Model Y are expected to begin in additional European countries in June, so it’s possible that Tesla will enjoy an uptick over the summer.
Still, the potential for a sales recovery in Europe is dimming by the minute as the full weight of Trump’s second turn around the Oval Office kicks in. If the April sales record is any indication, the shrinking number of EV buyers willing to overlook Tesla’s brand reputation crisis will keep on shrinking.
As reported by Reuters, despite a raft of discounts and incentives, Tesla’s new car sales fell in Europe last month, topped by an 81% drop in Sweden. “Its sales in the Netherlands fell 73.8% to their weakest for that month since 2022 and were down 33% in Portugal, a bigger drop than the previous month,” the Reuters reporting team noted.
“The automaker’s sales have dropped for four straight months across much of Europe. For the first quarter, sales of all fully-electric cars rose 28% in Europe while Tesla’s sales slumped 37.2%,” they summarized.
Other lowlights cited by Reuters include an 80.7% drop in Sweden and a 73.8% drop in the Netherlands. “Sales in Denmark dropped 67.2%, data showed on Thursday, while France reported a 59.4% fall,” they added.
“The figures will increase doubts about whether the launch of a revamped Model Y in some countries can revive Tesla’s fortunes in Europe.”
Lie Down With A Ferret, Wake Up With Cool Whip On Your Face
With the gleeful assistance of Musk and his DOGE team, Trump has been rampaging through the US Constitution like a ferret in a bowl of Cool Whip. That’s not being fair to ferrets, or, for that matter, to Cool Whip. If you can think of a more accurate analogy, drop a note in the comment thread. Better yet, find your representatives in Congress and let them know what you think.
Analogies aside, the potential for a significant impact on Tesla’s brand reputation was clear from the start of this year, particularly for those who paid attention to Musk’s political activities going back to the first Trump administration.
Trump fooled enough of the people enough of the time to lurch back into the White House for a second term, but the bucket of Trump fans is shriveling up along with the destruction of federal jobs, resources, and vital services fostered upon the US public when Trump handed the keys to the government over to Musk.
Where’s That Tesla Sales Rebound Now?
Now Musk is reportedly planning to power down his chainsaw and return to his CEO duties full time, but it’s probably a day late and a dollar short for a Tesla sales rebound.
Even if Musk returns to Tesla, Trump has almost 3.75 years left in office, and his political brand is so damaged that the Trump factor is already credited with swinging recent elections away from conservative candidates in Canada and Australia.
As a politicized brand, Tesla has become a sort of automotive meat wave, taking hit after hit for Trump’s grand delusions. It’s not just Trump. Vice President J.D. Vance is also doing his part to ensure that Tesla sales keep trending downwards in Europe and elsewhere around the globe, cementing the automaker to the US government’s steep slide into authoritarianism.
Vance and Musk have both aggressively criticized the German government’s efforts to keep a lid on right-wing extremism. On Vance’s part, that includes an appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, DC.
“Vance’s remarks followed his speech earlier this month at the Munich Security Conference, where he lectured European leaders about the state of democracy and free speech across the continent,” Associated Press reported in February.
“His comments were met with rebukes from multiple European leaders, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz,” AP added.
Vance also had a meetup with Alice Weidel, head of the Nazi-adjacent AfD (Alternative for Germany) party in February.
“The German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz or BfV), its domestic intelligence agency which monitors extremist threats to Germany’s democracy, has listed AfD as an officially suspected extremist organization and classified its youth wing, ‘Young Alternative,’ as extremist in April 2023,” notes the Anti-Defamation League.
The Hits Just Keep On Coming
Last week, Vance deployed social media to carry on his vigorous defense of AfD. This latest effort to kill off the Tesla brand cropped up too late to factor into the April sales figures, but don’t be shocked when the next round of data comes out.
“’The West tore down the Berlin Wall together. And it has been rebuilt—not by the Soviets or the Russians, but by the German establishment,’ the vice president wrote Friday on X,” noted The Hill among other news organizations.
On social media, Vance described AfD as the “most popular party in Germany, and by far the most representative of East Germany.”
“Now the bureaucrats try to destroy it,” he added.
Tesla also has to deal with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is also piling on. “Vice President Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio blasted Germany’s government for labeling the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party as an ‘extremist’ political group,” The Hill reported last week, noting that Rubio also accused the German government of “tyranny in disguise.”
Way to call the kettle black there, Marco. Keep it coming if you want to see Tesla’s sales figures in Europe and elsewhere take another spin around the drain next month.
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