Sales in a very slight decrease last year, in a more significant decrease in certain markets in early 2025. It was necessary to connect this relative meform of Tesla with the attitude of its boss, Elon Musk, very close to the US president, during his campaign and from the return to the power of Donald Trump.
The controversial gesture of Nazi salvation on the day of the inauguration of Donald Trump, an interpretation qualified as “twisted blow” by the main part interested, marked a little more for some the approach of Elon Musk with the extreme right.
Sales in strong decline in France and Germany
What to awaken a fall in Tesla sales? A brand strongly linked to its boss, which is not its founder, but has been the main leader since 2008.
In Germany, as in France, the sales of the electric pioneer were divided for two for a year in January 2025. But the imminent arrival of a new model and, its best sale model worldwide, there is still the most logical explanation for this. Mesement Therefore, there could be a certain waiting attitude and see potential buyers.
But in this context of Elon Musk’s political positions, some Tesla owners share their irritation.
In Frankfurt, Germany, Enrico Parano, a 60 -year -old bank executive, acknowledges that “although the car is very good,” he would think “today very careful before buying it, due to Musk’s behavior.” He plans to sell his shares of Tesla.
“Contribute to giving money to this guy,” said AFP Adriaan after AFP, a young French doctor who bought a used tesla. However, he fears that we are going to “a disaster (climate, note) even worse than the adhesion to the power of the other crazy (Donald Trump)” if we stop the electrification of the cars.
A boycott suggested by a Polish minister
Elon Musk was accustomed to the headlines, but has divided the opinion since his approach with Donald Trump, among his attacks against diversity policies and his support for the extreme European right.
Critics have multiplied markedly in Germany since Elon Musk has shown great support for the AFD party by far.
On the back of Europe Tesla appeared stickers “Irogue this before Elon went crazy” (I bought it before Elon went crazy), as in the United States.
At the end of January, the activists screened in the gigantic Tesla factory in Berlin, to denounce it, the controversial salvation carried out by Elon Musk.
“Nobody wants to be associated with Musk’s behavior,” Ferdinand Dudenhöffer, an expert in the automotive sector in Germany, told AFP. However, the brand and its boss are “almost inseparable,” he adds.
According to another German expert, Matthias Schmidt, “Germany is still very sensitive to its history, and this political political discourse is potentially toxic, since Tesla consumers are partly motivated by ecological concerns.”
In the Netherlands, a Tesla dealership was destroyed with swastika graffiti in early February, Holch News Media reported.
In Barcelona, Spain, an artist from Toulouse, James Colomina, recently exhibited a red arm at a Tesla Superchargers station.
“Installing this arm in a terminal means emphasizing how certain messages can reactivate dangerous references and anchor in the spirits,” the artist told our colleagues in France 3 Occitanie.
In Poland, Elon Musk’s support to AFD and his comments on German history (“children should not be guilty for the sins of their … grandparents”) pushed the Slave Tourism Minister to say that it was “necessary to answer Firmly (musk), for example with a boycott. “
Thirty -many fans who remain positive
If there were a boycott, however, it would remain difficult to measure: Tesla already slows down in Europe for different difficulties.
Pioneer of the electric car, the brand now faces an avalanche of competitors, in a market also slowed.
However, a global level, Tesla’s sales remained stable during 2024, and Tesla’s action has been the highest in the stock market since the choice of Donald Trump.
“Tesla is today the two parts of the same piece,” says Ieva English of the Swedish Novus Institute, which conducted an online survey at the end of January.
“Half of the population (Swedish) is positive or neutral (for the brand) and admires the innovation and environmental work of Tesla,” he said in a press release. But the blockade of the social situation of the Swedish employees of Tesla, on strike, and the actions of Elon Musk “show red to all others.”
The Novus expert points out, however, that men from 35 to 49, who “can be considered as the main target group of Tesla”, remain “relatively positive” with respect to the brand.
Source: BFM TV
