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3 Min Read
Tesla sales struggle in Europe as Chinese brands lead BEV sales growth.
Combined Chinese branded battery-electric vehicle sales knock Tesla off its European top selling perch in February as the U.S. brand suffers from consumer boycotts over owner Elon Musk’s political interference.
The brand’s slump has been most notably in Germany following Musk’s promoting the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party whose members have denied the Holocaust and promote closer ties with Russia while ending support for Ukraine.
The Tesla’s sales decline of 47% in the European Union and 40% including the U.K. and other key markets, came against a market that overall saw sales dip by 3%. Sales for battery electric vehicles saw a 24% improvement, according to data from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, or ACEA.
This highlights Tesla’s slump in market share falling to 9.6%, the lowest it has been during the month of February for the last five years. The brand’s year-to-date market share fell from 18.4% in 2024 to 7.7% this year.
The best-selling Chinese-owned car brands were Volvo (parent company Geely), BYD and Polestar. While Volvo recorded a 30% drop in BEV registrations, BYD and Polestar made substantial gains, with increases of 94% and 84% respectively.
Xpeng also performed well with more than 1,000 units, closely followed by Leapmotor with almost 900 units.
The European market overall shows a total of 966,300 new passenger cars were registered in February, marking a decline of 3% compared to the corresponding month last year. Automotive research firm JATO Dynamics' data for the expanded 28 European markets (including the U.K. Norway and Switzerland), shows the main nations driving the decline include Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Ireland. Year-to-date registrations in Europe fell by 2% to a total of 1,962,850 units.
BEVs registrations for the month increased by 26% to 164,000 units. This is the highest volume on record for both the month of February and the period of January and February, during which 329,700 units were registered, up by 31%.
Volkswagen Group continues to lead the market with a 25.8% market share. Stellantis followed in second position but lost 2.6% of share when compared with February 2024 because of double-digit drops at Citroën, Opel/Vauxhall and Fiat.
The Renault Group was the month’s top performer, with a 12% increase in volume and a market share gain of 1.5%. The group’s strong performance in February is being attributed to positive results posted by the Renault Clio, Dacia Duster, the new Renault Symbioz and Renault 5.
Much of Renault’s success was found in the BEV segment, with 9,400 BEVs registered in February, up by 96%. The French manufacturer was outperformed only by Volkswagen, which recorded a 108% increase in BEV sales.
Renault's Dacia brand Sandero continues to lead the top-selling models. The second best-selling model was Stellantis’ Citroën C3, with the new generation already being widely available.
The Tesla Model Y and Skoda Octavia have dropped out of the top ten model rankings, making way for the Dacia Duster and Volkswagen Tiguan.
“There are still no clear signs of recovery in the European automotive industry. Uncertainty in the domestic market is being further complicated by challenges in both China and the U.S.," says Felipe Munoz, global analyst at Jato Dynamics.
“Tesla is experiencing a period of immense change. In addition to Elon Musk’s increasingly active role in politics and the increased competition it is facing within the BEV market, the brand is phasing out the existing version the Model Y… in anticipation of the introduction of a new refreshed version. Brands like Tesla, which have a relatively limited model lineup, are particularly vulnerable to registration declines when undertaking a model changeover."
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