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Tesla sales plummet in the UK, France, and Germany

arstechnica.com

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Re: Tesla sales plummet in the UK, France, and Germany

#71

Post by NomDePlum »

schmidp wrote: post #29
throwaway5752 wrote: post #22

I wouldn't buy a Tesla today if it alchemically transmuted atmospheric carbon dioxide into an ounce of gold that pooped out of the front console every 1000 miles. Most of Tesla's target market does not tolerate Nazism, which Elon Musk is clearly and obviously signaling. That doesn't even touch on his enthusiastic role in an administration threatening EU members states, some of our historically closest allies in the p…

That’s ridiculous. Can you name examples where he is signaling Nazism (except the Salut). Have you watched any long form podcasts of him?

Promoting far-right German populist party is a signal surely? https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jan/25/elon-musk...

Similarly, funding far-right fascists such as Tommy Robinson https://www.politico.eu/article/elon-musk-fund-uk-far-right-... in the UK another.

I know less about the AfD but anyone supporting Robinson is definitely in the fascist leaning camp.

Re: Tesla sales plummet in the UK, France, and Germany

#72

Post by jfkrrorj »

alephnerd wrote: post #18
jfkrrorj wrote: post #4

Chinese have far better and cheaper EV cars. Getting spare parts for Tesla in Europe is a nightmare!

Most European EV sales that aren't Tesla are European brands like Volkswagen Group (VW, Audi, Skoda), BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Stellantis (Pueguot, Fiat, Opel), Renault-Nissan (Renault, Dacia, Nissan), or Korea's Hyundai. The only Chinese challenger brand that has some traction is Geely via Volvo. You can see this in EU EV industry data as well from JATO (the EU's auto industry trade group) - https://www.jato.com/reso…

I see tons of electric bikes from China.

Re: Tesla sales plummet in the UK, France, and Germany

#73

Post by alephnerd »

jfkrrorj wrote: post #72
alephnerd wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most European EV sales that aren't Tesla are European brands like Volkswagen Group (VW, Audi, Skoda), BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Stellantis (Pueguot, Fiat, Opel), Renault-Nissan (Renault, Dacia, Nissan), or Korea's Hyundai. The only Chinese challenger brand that has some traction is Geely via Volvo. You can see this in EU EV industry data as well from JATO (the EU's auto industry trade group) - https://www.jato.com/reso…

I see tons of electric bikes from China.

Electric Bikes maybe. But Electric Bikes ain't competing for the same market share as a car.

End of the day, the biggest EV sellers in Europe remain either Tesla or European conglomerates.

And this is the same story for just about every large economy. No country wants an outsider player selling products that disadvantage local players.

Re: Tesla sales plummet in the UK, France, and Germany

#74

Post by JumpCrisscross »

rcMgD2BwE72F wrote: post #35
WJW wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If that were the actual reason then why did the sales drop so much in the last month? Surely the new model Y has been coming for a while now, it is difficult to imagine that it would cause a >40% drop across the board from month to month. Rather it seems very likely that Musk is extremely toxic to the brand at the moment. He is very closely aligned to a president who is actively threatening a trade war against the EU…

>If that were the actual reason then why did the sales drop so much in the last month? Because why buy a Model Y in December at full price, when you can order the new version for the same price? The Juniper is the last update of a 5 year old model. The reviews says it was well worth the wait.

> why buy a Model Y in December at full price, when you can order the new version for the same price?

This take is not supported by the data. Used Tesla prices are crashing across the board. Sales are crashing across the board. Polls show clear negative sentiment towards the brand.

The old lineup isn’t helping. And yes, there will be a blip when the Y comes out. Tesla builds good cars and plenty of people buy on price and quality. But there is a reason most cars come in black, grey and white—consumers are conservative about cars as a statement about themselves. Owning a Tesla, today, is a political statement. Even among those who agree with Musk, most don’t want to signal that day to day.

Re: Tesla sales plummet in the UK, France, and Germany

#75

Post by danans »

KindAndFriendly wrote: post #20

I live in San Mateo County, CA and in my street 3 neighbors have sold their Teslas within the last 8 weeks and switched to other brands.

There does appear to be a social cost to driving a Tesla in blue-leaning areas these days. Nothing overt, but I've heard people who bought them without knowing who Musk is (and don't agree with him) now openly saying "never-again".

If the used Tesla market gets flooded, will there be consumer demand for those used Teslas? I suspect that most will be in suburban red-leaning areas in areas that aren't openly EV-technology hostile (something like the Dallas or Atlanta suburbs).

The problem for Tesla is that unlike the prestige effect of used luxury car sales driving new luxury car sales (i.e. BMW, Benz, etc), these cars are being disposed of because they are becoming less desirable. The target market for new Teslas seems to be shrinking among the primary populations who both want and can afford EVs.

Re: Tesla sales plummet in the UK, France, and Germany

#76

Post by jcranmer »

rcMgD2BwE72F wrote: post #50
throwaway5752 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most people don't need or want FSD. They want an actual steering wheel and an actual stalk in order to activate turn signals. They want reliable well-made electric vehicles that don't take long to repair. Musk has spent many billions of dollars building something his target market doesn't require. Tesla does not currently have product-market fit. Musk should resign his board and CEO positions and stop interfering wit…

>Tesla does not currently have product-market fit. Yet, it sells the best selling car on Earth.

> Yet, it sells the best selling car on Earth.

A lot of that is selling just 2 mass-market models. And it only barely beats out the Toyota Corolla, except that Toyota also sells the third highest volume model (the RAV-4) and the 8th (the Camry).

Re: Tesla sales plummet in the UK, France, and Germany

#77

Post by [deleted] »

danans wrote: post #75
KindAndFriendly wrote: post #20

I live in San Mateo County, CA and in my street 3 neighbors have sold their Teslas within the last 8 weeks and switched to other brands.

There does appear to be a social cost to driving a Tesla in blue-leaning areas these days. Nothing overt, but I've heard people who bought them without knowing who Musk is (and don't agree with him) now openly saying "never-again". If the used Tesla market gets flooded, will there be consumer demand for those used Teslas? I suspect that most will be in suburban red-leaning areas in areas that aren't openly EV-technol…

[deleted]

Re: Tesla sales plummet in the UK, France, and Germany

#78

Post by ahahahahah »

declan_roberts wrote: post #41
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I live in San Mateo County, CA Jackson Hole, Wyoming. One sold (Model X), one scrapped (Cybertruck). Oddly, opposite ends of the political spectrum. Both because of Musk’s new brand.

Where do I buy one of these cheap Teslas people are selling for political reasons?

Pretty much anywhere you would buy any other used car. Model 3/y used prices are down 20% yoy (compared to ~4% all cars).

Re: Tesla sales plummet in the UK, France, and Germany

#79

Post by amazingamazing »

electric_mayhem wrote: post #62
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #32

This may get flagged as it's similar to previous articles that were flagged, but I'd just like to point out that ideological arguments pro or con about Tesla stories rarely seem to be the true reason. That is, whenever there is an article about Tesla sales slipping you see lots of "That's because all the liberal EV buyers hate Elon now!" comments. And as much as I may personally want that to be true, if you dig a tee…

I bought a Tesla in 2019 - back when it was the Eco conscious car nerd choice, and before he started skewing right. I liked it so much I got solar for my house from Tesla, along with multiple powerwalls. Frankly, the car has been an embarrassment to take out into the world for the last three or four years. With him outing himself as an outright nazi, yesterday I spent fifteen minutes with a heat gun, dental floss, an…

Why don't you just sell the car? seems silly imho

Re: Tesla sales plummet in the UK, France, and Germany

#80

Post by toomuchtodo »

amluto wrote: post #31
jfkrrorj wrote: post #4

Chinese have far better and cheaper EV cars. Getting spare parts for Tesla in Europe is a nightmare!

Getting service for a Tesla in the US can be pretty unpleasant. They’ve gone from truly excellent service to not wanting to interact with their owners and managing parts availability quite poorly.

Absolutely terrible. I had to wait 2 months to get my Model S in for routine service. The day after, the battery pack heater failed and the vehicle would no longer fast DC charge. I was told it would be another 2 months until the vehicle could be looked at. I bought the part myself (1038901-00-K) and replaced it for ~$200 (requiring me to learn and perform the HV pack isolation procedure). Do not recommend.
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