A lot of this was down to the huge sales of the Model Y in Europe in the past year or two with subsidized loans at rock bottom rates. The lowest I saw was 0%. Obviously today that's no longer the case. Also the MY is due to be replaced so a lot of would be Tesla buyers are holding off. But I don't doubt that some part, perhaps even a large part, of this is down to personality.<p>So it'll be interesting to see what happens when the new Model Y is launched and how much they retake of this lost market share. My guess is, some, but not nearly all of it. People held their noses and bought the Tesla when they were at a huge (interest rate) discount. Tesla obviously can't give people long sub 1% loans and make a profit in 2025.<p>For me personally (in Europe, looking for a new EV this year) I'd be happy to pay more north of a $10k premium to not have the car that says Tesla on it.
What people seem to miss in this discussion: Many Germans get EV cars as company cars because of how they're taxed:
Say the car is worth 60k and you're allowed to use it for non-work purposes, then you need to tax 1% of the list price per month (i.e. 600 is added as fictional income to your monthly pay, and you need to pay the tax on that) IF you drive a gas / diesel car.
For EVs that is 0.25%, so there was a huge incentive for people to get Teslas.<p>That law is changing though: The taxation applies only to cars up to €60k list price (most Teslas exceed that by now, even Model 3s with some extras), and as electricity prices have been soaring, charging the EV got really expensive.<p>Adding to that, interest rates have been increasing in 2022 for the first time in a long time. This means that leasing rates and financing rates skyrocketed. So as another commenter wrote: Buying a new car is one of the least worries of Germans at the moment.
I have anecdotal evidence that at least a part of this is due to Musk's behaviour. My father is in charge of the car fleet for a large German company, and they have decided to exclude Tesla from their fleet because of Musk's recent behaviour. At the same time, they have also decided to go full electric for the entire fleet (no hybrid either).
I was wondering how this compares, the car lobby ADAC [0] has Jan '24 22,474 vs Jan '25 34,498 for new EVs (so 50% more), Jan '24 was apparently a particularly bad month as the subsidies for EVs had just ended, looking at some other stats, Jan '24 was the worst EV month since Jan '23.<p>Tesla fell from 14% of the market to 4% [1]<p>[0]: <a href="https://www.adac.de/news/neuzulassungen-kba/" rel="nofollow">https://www.adac.de/news/neuzulassungen-kba/</a><p>[1]: <a href="https://www.focus.de/auto/elektroauto/starker-start-ins-neue-jahr-im-januar-2025-wurden-in-deutschland-so-viele-elektroautos-zugelassen-wie-nie-zuvor_id_260698734.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.focus.de/auto/elektroauto/starker-start-ins-neue...</a>
In Norway it was down almost 40% compared to same month last year[1].<p>However monthly Tesla numbers has historically had a high month-to-month variance, and they had very good numbers at the end of last year[2].<p>So at least here I wouldn't say we're seeing a trend just yet.<p>[1]: <a href="https://www.nrk.no/nyheter/tesla-salget-stupte-i-norge-i-januar-1.17255093" rel="nofollow">https://www.nrk.no/nyheter/tesla-salget-stupte-i-norge-i-jan...</a><p>[2]: <a href="https://www.tek.no/nyheter/nyhet/i/4BV7LE/bilsalget-ny-tesla-dominans-i-november" rel="nofollow">https://www.tek.no/nyheter/nyhet/i/4BV7LE/bilsalget-ny-tesla...</a>
Somewhat anecdotal, but I follow the used Tesla Model 3 market fairly closely in western Canada and have seen the number of listings triple over the last month or so.
Maybe Germans don't want to buy cars from the company whose CEO did not one but two Nazi salutes on national television.<p>As a Tesla owner myself, it makes me very uncomfortable to think my car is remotely associated with a hate group. I wouldn't buy one today nor do I recommend it to others.
His new "target" audience is mostly the prussian-rump-state that has been left behind in east germany, that yearns for a new "empire" similar to the russians. Funny though, the time of empires is the one where "hyper-trade" dependant germany was the most run-down it ever was. You do not jump other countries in a dark alley with 1 month of gasoline for tanks if things are going so well.
Know way of testing this (that I know at least), but I'm curious about how much the effect is Musk's politics and how much is other EVs catching up.<p>Politically, I'm fairly left wing, concerned about democracy and climate change. Elon Musk's politics is easily enough to make sure I'd never purchase anything he's associated with.<p>That said, for buying an EV, tradional car manufacturers have mostly caught up with where Tesla is now, as a European buyer, I could get a high quality EV much cheaper from longer established brands with more effecient supply chains.<p>Seems pretty tricky to try and untangle those two effects.
Not sure what Reuters's intent was but these news stories will make it go back up.<p>Suddenly anyone who supports Musk will buy one when they otherwise wouldn't.