Sales of Tesla’s electric vehicles have fallen sharply across many of its key European markets amid a consumer backlash against Elon Musk’s interventions in the region’s politics.
The world’s largest EV maker in January registered only 1,277 new cars in Germany, according to the German Federal Motor Transport Authority, a drop of 59.5 per cent compared with the same month last year. The country hosts Tesla’s only manufacturing plant in Europe.
Sales of electric vehicles slowed sharply in Germany and France last year following a pullback in government subsidies, but demand has started to recover recently. Tesla’s drop came as the German EV market in January grew more than 50 per cent year on year, pushing its market share down from 14 to 4 per cent.
In France, Tesla sales were down 63 per cent in January, while registrations of Tesla cars in Norway fell 38 per cent. In the UK, registrations declined 8 per cent from a year earlier.
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.
My heart bleeds….
Our Y now has a bumper sticker that says, “bought before we knew who he was.” Next vehicle will be another EV, but it won’t be a Tesla.
I wonder how realistic it is for Tesla shareholders to remove him. He has pretty obviously dropped the ball at Tesla, and his negatives are having real impact. It would be a real shame with real consequences if Tesla the company were to fail.
For what it is worth, I asked Perplexity (an AI search engine) is Musk could be removed. It’s answer:
“can tesla remove musk?
Answer:
Yes, Tesla can remove Elon Musk as CEO, but it would require significant shareholder action. The process would involve:
Shareholders voting to replace the current board members. [!]
The new board then voting to remove Musk as CEO.
However, this is unlikely to happen in the near future for several reasons:
Stock performance: Many shareholders are hesitant to make changes while Tesla’s stock price remains high1
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Musk’s influence: He owns 13% of the company and has significant control over the board.
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Shareholder support: In the June 2024 shareholders meeting, most voters aligned with Musk’s recommendations.
Despite growing concerns about Musk’s behavior and its impact on Tesla, including his social media activities and potential conflicts of interest, major changes would likely only occur if:
Tesla’s stock price significantly declines.
There’s a substantial shift in shareholder sentiment”
The richest man in the world, is joyfully gutting a agency, that has been keeping millions of the poorest people alive for decades. Saving chump change.