The plunge in Tesla electric vehicle sales across the world in the recent months have been well documented, but nowhere is it being felt quite as deeply as in Europe, where leading market analysts now acknowledge the toxic impact of Elon Musk’s politics on consumers.
Europe-wide data released by the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) shows that Tesla sold just 9,945 units in January, a 45 per cent fall from 18,161 in the same month a year earlier.
That was in a market that saw a 37 per cent boost in EV sales in the month.
It seems to most like an extraordinary and pivotal moment in the global EV transition, with implications not just for Tesla, but the whole electric vehicle industry, the auto industry in general, and existing Tesla owners, some of whom are wrestling with the idea that they should sell the cars they regard as superior to all others – as a matter of principle, and to avoid vandals.
The Trump-Musk administration is openly attacking the EV market in the US, stripping away rebates, tearing up emission standards, scrapping funding for new fast chargers, and even pulling the plug on more than 8,000 existing charging bays in federal buildings.
It seems so far removed from the Musk “mission” of just a few years ago to stop the burning of fossil fuels and disrupt and tip over three trillion-dollar incumbent issues – coal, oil and big auto.
Musk now openly scoffs at climate science, and is helping the Trump administration defenestrate key institutions that promote science and research, and the regulators that would oversee him.
“It feels somehow more than just a car brand now.”
Poster at London bus stop.
The cartoon and posters illustrated above, one from a Norwegian newspaper and the other from a London bus-stop, highlight just how poorly Musk is viewed by sections of the community.