Entire market grows: Tesla sales collapse in Europe

Sales figures for electric car manufacturer Tesla fell drastically in January. At the same time, the competition may be gaining ground. In addition to a possible negative effect of the image of company boss Musk, other factors could also have an influence.

Despite the increase in electric cars on the EU car market, new registrations of the US electric car pioneer Tesla collapsed in January. As the European manufacturers' association Acea announced in Brussels, the number fell by half to 7,517 cars. The Volkswagen Group retained its market leadership in the EU in January with an increase in registrations of almost six percent to almost 230,000 - even though fewer cars were newly registered by the VW subsidiary Porsche AG.

Tesla 315.40

However, the ACEA does not provide data filtered by drive data and manufacturer, making a comparison difficult. In Germany, however, the VW ID.7 was the best-selling electric car in January 2025, according to data from the Federal Motor Transport Authority, with 3,140 new registrations. This is followed in a ranking of the top 10 new registrations by other VW models and vehicles from the Skoda, Seat and Audi brands belonging to the Volkswagen Group. These add up to a total of 14,607 new registrations. By comparison, just 979 Tesla Model Y vehicles were registered.

Stellantis and Renault followed the Wolfsburg-based company in second and third place in the EU comparison. Around one percent fewer cars from the BMW group were registered in the first month of the year, while the Swabian rival Mercedes-Benz registered a good 6 percent fewer.

Expired funding distorts the comparison

Overall, the car market in the European Union has had a cautious start to the new year. In January, 831,201 new cars were registered, 2.6 percent fewer than in the same period last year. Electric cars made a big leap forward. However, a year earlier, subsidies had expired or been cut in several European countries, which had caused sales to collapse.

New registrations of fully electric cars with pure battery drive (BEV - Battery Electric Vehicles) rose by a third to 124,341 cars. More people registered such cars, especially in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.

The rechargeable mixed drives, so-called plug-in hybrids, were somewhat less in demand than a year ago. However, the number of non-rechargeable hybrid cars continued to climb by a good 18 percent to 290,014 cars. This includes not only cars that have their own fully capable electric motor, but also so-called mild hybrids. These only have supporting electric motors in order to reduce fuel consumption.