Tesla had a pretty terrible 2025 with major drops in sales here in the US and in Europe. Those declines seemed to be based on anger at Elon Musk for his role in DOGE. As you probably remember, progressives responded with a wave of vandalism targeting cars and dealerships.
The result of all of this was a major drop in sales which was of course celebrated by leftists here and abroad. But it’s looking like Tesla’s major sales slump in Europe is over. Sales so far this year have rebounded and almost match 2024, Tesla’s 2nd best year.
Tesla’s vehicle sales rose 77 percent from January through May compared with a year earlier, the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association said this week. In May, Tesla sold 22,000 cars in Europe. That’s more than Ford, Nissan or Honda, even when including their fossil-fuel models.
Many people seem to have put aside their personal feelings about Mr. Musk after Tesla cut prices for its entry-level models to levels that are competitive with comparable gasoline or diesel vehicles and inexpensive cars from China.
Leftists in Europe haven’t forgotten about how much they hate Elon, it’s just that his cars are better than anyone else’s.
Geraldine Heaton, a retired pharmacist who lives in a suburb of Dublin, said she felt “a certain shame in driving a Tesla because of his DOGE involvement and his general view of the world.”
“But I love my Model 3 and that overrides my dislike of the man,” she said.
Sean O’Connor, the managing director of a creative design agency in Amsterdam, said he was reluctant to buy a Tesla because of Mr. Musk. But after test driving electric vehicles from five European brands, Mr. O’Connor concluded that “the Model Y is head and shoulders above the rest.”…
Philipp Till, a medical doctor who works in Salzburg, Austria, said that he found Mr. Musk’s right-wing views “disgusting,” especially as a citizen of a country with a Nazi past.
But Mr. Till bought a used Tesla Model S for his long daily commute because “I had a bad conscience burning lots of diesel,” he said.
“His visions,” Mr. Till said of Mr. Musk, “accelerated the shift to electric driving.”
Wait times for delivery of a new Tesla in Europe has now expanded to three months, suggesting the good news will continue at least for the next quarter.
The comments on this one are interesting. You have someone from Belgium arguing that putting money in Musk’s pocket is a step toward the end of Europe.
I’ve had heated arguments with others here in Europe. You don’t like the guy but are OK to fund his empire, because a price tag doesn’t have to be political. Well yes it is. If the far right comes in power in France and Germany, wrecking economies like we see in the US, how is that advantageous lease price on your car will benefit you when everything else goes to the bin? I bought an EV from an established European brand. I never considered Tesla one moment. Democracy is better in my opinion than a few hundreds euros saved or additional kilometres on battery.
But you also have people in the US, who appear to be progressives, arguing that the cars are just better. This is from someone in NYC:
Yep. I dislike Elon, but contrary to what every article on the NYTimes over the last 2 years has told you, there just are no other options that come anywhere close on both technology and price.
Oh and don’t be swayed by articles on that 1 autopilot crash from 5 years ago, it’s not perfect but Full Self Driving is an incredible driving assist product that’s worth every penny.
Another comment from California:
My care for the environment supercedes my dislike of Musk. All in all, Tesla is still the most environmentally friendly car you can drive. I would rather make a statement of behalf of the environment rather than against Musk, which won’t make a difference in his life. Not to mention that it is an amazing car. Mr. Musk did not get to be a trillionaire by making bad cars.
Anyway, progressives can still celebrate that Tesla sales have not rebounded in the US yet. That probably is partly because of the elimination of government incentives last year, but that could also turn around later this year.
Electric car sales skyrocketed during Q3’s [2025] rush to claim the expiring EV tax credit, resulting in over 10% EV market share that quarter. Then sales crashed by some 46% in Q4. But EV share has been flat at around 6% over the last two quarters, suggesting that the worst of the fallout is behind us.
“EV sales in Q1 were lower by 7.8% compared to the previous quarter, an improvement and suggesting the sales drop after government-back incentives were terminated has slowed,” Cox analysts wrote on Friday.
We’ll have to wait and see how that turns out but clearly things are looking up in Europe.
We may be on the verge of a new record year for Tesla sales in Europe, which are now at 2024 levels. 🇪🇺 pic.twitter.com/AQBKlUAINd
— Roland Pircher (@piloly) June 25, 2026
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