Tesla’s European Death Spiral Has No End In Sight

Despite it still being one of the largest electric car makers in the world, Tesla’s grip on the market is weakening month after month. That’s especially true in Europe, where buyers have plenty of alternatives to Tesla’s aging lineup of battery-powered cars.

More and more people in Europe’s largest EV markets are ditching Teslas in favor of pretty much anything else, either because they want nothing to do with CEO Elon Musk’s antics or simply because they found a better car somewhere else.

Read More: JPMorgan Says Tesla Is About To Have A Bad Time

Whatever the reason, the sales figures are disappointing, to say the least. In April, Tesla sales went down an astonishing 81 percent in Sweden — the lowest level since October 2022. In the Netherlands, Tesla sales decreased 73.8 percent compared to the same month last year. It’s the same story in Denmark and France, where the American automaker’s numbers fell by 67 percent and 59 percent respectively. In Portugal, the fall wasn’t as abrupt, but at 33 percent, it’s still nothing to write home about.

All of this is despite Tesla’s best efforts to rejuvenate its presence in Europe with the launch of the refreshed Model Y. The electric crossover has long been the company’s breadwinner, and has led the sales charts in Europe. But even with styling and under-the-skin upgrades courtesy of the facelift, the crossover has had a hard time recapturing Europeans’ attention.

In the first quarter of this year, all-electric car sales in the European Union went up by 23.9 percent. Despite this, Tesla’s sales in the region plummeted by 45 percent to just 36,167 units, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA). At the same time, Tesla’s market share went from 2.4 percent last year to 1.3 percent in the first quarter of this year.

In the enlarged market of the European Union, the United Kingdom, and the European Free Trade Association (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland), Tesla sales fell by 37.3 percent in the first quarter as overall EV sales went up 28 percent.

In the United States, the company had a softer fall, but a fall nonetheless. While total EV sales grew 11.4 percent in the first quarter, Tesla’s numbers went down 8.6 percent, according to data from Cox Automotive.

Read More: Are Tesla’s Golden Days Over?

Tesla’s latest woes in Europe come hot on the heels of a disappointing year for the name that was once hailed as a pioneer in the EV space. Last year, Tesla posted its first drop in global deliveries in a decade, while Q1 2025 came with a 13 percent drop year-over-year.

The big question now is: can Tesla come back from its sales slump? Judging from the hype surrounding the affordable Slate electric pickup, one would argue that what Tesla needs most right now is that long-delayed cheap EV. The company seems to have figured out so much, with a more affordable model potentially seeing the light of day next month. We still don’t know what that car will be, though. One report said it could be a stripped-down, smaller Model Y, while Musk himself seems hell-bent on selling people a two-door, steering wheel-less robotaxi running unproven software.

This article was written by Iulian Dnistran and was first seen on insideevs.com.

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