Most European Union nations have reported their car sales for May. Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) took a beating across several countries. None was worse than France, where sales declined 67% from May of 2024. Car research firm Plateforme Automobile reported Tesla’s sales in France were only 721. Bloomberg reports that is the lowest monthly total since July 2022.
24/7 Wall St. Key Points:
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Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) car sales in May were sharply lower in France and other European countries.
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Its sales there may be small, but they are signs of a global problem the company faces.
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France was not the only market where Tesla’s sales dropped sharply in May. They were off by 54% in Sweden, 31% in Denmark, and 36% in the Netherlands. Taken together, the total sales for May in these markets were only a few thousand vehicles. That is a disturbing trend nevertheless.
Tesla’s sales decline in Europe is part of a wider problem that began earlier this year. In China, the world’s largest electric vehicle (EV) market, big local EV companies, led by giant BYD, have hurt its sales. Tesla’s EV market share in the United States dropped below 50% for the first time in the first quarter of this year.
It is easy to blame the decline on CEO Elon Musk’s association with President Donald Trump and his role in cutting U.S. government expenses. Some people consider him to be a leader of the right wing of U.S. politics, and one who is aggressive in his comments about foreign elections.
There may be at least three other reasons for the bad numbers. Tesla’s fleet is old. It has not introduced a new model in years. That is different from the strategy of almost all other big car companies, which try to keep their model lines fresh by launching new vehicles.
The next reason is that Tesla has tough competition that it did not have two years ago. This includes large Chinese car companies and such legacy manufacturers as Ford, GM, and Hyundai/Kia. While each legacy car company has lost billions of dollars on EVs and has only small market share to show, each also has deep pockets.
Finally, late-model Teslas have flooded the used market. People have opted to buy these at sharp discounts instead of paying full price for new ones. This bargain hunting has probably hurt Tesla’s new car sales.
Tesla sales in Europe may be small, but they are indications of a global problem faced by the company.
Prediction: 1 Electric Vehicle Stock Poised to Overtake Tesla by 2030
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