Tesla’s EU Sales Plunge In April: More Bad News For CEO Elon Musk

Tesla’s sales continue to plunge in Europe, punctuating the trouble the carmaker has had since 2025 began in getting consumers on the continent into its cars. In April, major Euro countries saw huge double-digit percentage declines in registrations. It all comes amid a backdrop of CEO Elon Musk refocusing on his job at the firm and a retooling of Tesla’s (TSLA) top-seller, the Model Y.

Major European countries announced their car registrations for April — a figure that closely tracks actual sales data — and the data show Tesla’s numbers crashing. Great Britain, France and Germany — three of the largest markets for the electric vehicle maker — saw registrations plunge 62 percent, 46 percent and 59 percent for the month, respectively, compared to the same period in 2024. The April news follows up sharply declining sales for Tesla in Europe during the first quarter.

While these major drops are concerning in any environment, they’re more worrisome because they’re occurring during a period of significant growth for EVs in Europe. For example, while Tesla’s registrations in Germany dropped 46 percent in April, the EV market there actually grew more than 53 percent, according to KBA, Germany’s road traffic agency.

It wasn’t all bad news across the continent, however. Norway and Italy actually registered 12 percent and 29 percent more vehicles in the month compared to April 2024, respectively.

So who’s actually selling more cars? Chinese EV maker BYD (BYDDY and 1211-HK), for one. The firm’s registrations surged more than eight times in Germany during April, while registrations were up 654 percent in the U.K. in the same period.

Europe is the third-largest sales region for Tesla, after the U.S. and China, first and second respectively. In 2023, Tesla sold nearly 1.85 million cars, with more than 35 percent (654,888 units) going to the U.S. and nearly 33 percent (603,304 units) to China. While smaller European countries individually have a lower impact, collectively these European countries make up the third-largest market for Tesla. In 2023, more than 250,000 Teslas were registered there.

Tesla hit by cocktail of sales headwinds

Tesla’s sales difficulties in the EV market are a mixture of a few elements, notably increasing competition from Chinese rivals such as BYD but also Germany-based Volkswagen. In addition, Tesla has been revamping its Model Y, with units only beginning to be produced in the last few weeks. The Model Y represented about two-thirds of Tesla’s sales in 2023, so any hit to the car’s sales has a significant impact on the company’s overall figures.

As investors began to anticipate the sales slowdown, Tesla’s stock has been pummeled in the last six months, dropping at one point by more than 50 percent.

But perhaps the most prominent headwind is the involvement of CEO Elon Musk in politics. In the U.S., Musk has been heading up the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). In Germany, Musk supported the far-right party, Alternative for Germany.

The vocal backlash against Musk seems to have been fierce, with reported vandalism of Tesla cars and dealerships, with consumers saying they were boycotting the carmaker.

Major investors and even Tesla’s own board of directors has told Musk that he needs to refocus on the company, particularly after a terrible first-quarter earnings report that saw profit fall 71 percent. For his part, Musk has said that he’s cutting back the time he’ll spend on DOGE to just one or two days per week for the duration of Trump’s tenure. But his association with President Donald Trump may have created lasting damage to the Tesla brand.

Combine the key risks of Elon Musk as CEO, the stock’s potential overvaluation and increasing competition from rival EV makers, and it creates significant risk to Tesla shareholders.

So it may not be so surprising that Tesla’s board has reportedly contacted search firms to look for a successor to Musk.

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