Tesla, the American manufacturer, has started 2025 with a bittersweet taste. According to the consulting firm Statista, its Model Y would have repeated as the best-selling car in the world in 2024, with 1.09 million units, closely followed by the Toyota Corolla (1.08 million) and RAV4 (1.02 million).
But it doesn't seem like it will achieve that milestone again this year. Not if what happened during last January is maintained, where it lost significant ground to its competitors. Because it has suffered a debacle in strategic markets (due to their global volume and the penetration of electric vehicles in particular) such as France (-63%), Germany (-59.5%), Sweden (44%), the Netherlands (-42%), Norway (-38%), or the United Kingdom (-12%). In Spain, it lost almost three-quarters of the volume from a year ago.
Also in California
Furthermore, these results have pushed it to the bottom positions of the Top 10 sales, when it used to lead almost all of them.
These are poor figures to add to the symbolic decline in 2024 in California, which has always been fertile ground for Elon Musk's company. Last year, sales there dropped by 12%, although it remained the undisputed leader among electric vehicles, with a 52.5% market share. Globally, Tesla also maintained its leadership among electric vehicles, with 1.79 million units (-1.2%), although it was only 25,000 more than the Chinese BYD, which will most likely surpass it this year.
Ideology and range limited
Some analysts attribute this to the rejection caused by Musk's support for Trump and far-right movements. For example, a recent survey in Sweden indicated that six out of ten buyers had a negative opinion about Tesla and Musk. Other experts emphasize that its range - which should include a smaller car in the future and which has just renewed the Model Y - is very limited, almost the same as it was in 2020. This is not a minor handicap, as there are now more brands and models competing with them: around 150 at the moment, compared to the 25 in 2020.
Lastly, it is important to remember that Tesla's figures are heavily influenced by logistical flows. In simple terms, the delay of the famous ship that transports vehicles to markets where they do not manufacture.
Concerns are other
In any case, it seems that Musk is not very concerned about this, as he is immersed in other matters such as the advantages in autonomous driving or Artificial Intelligence (AI) that he expects to obtain from the Trump Administration, which is much more inclined towards deregulation than the previous one.
Indeed, Tesla's shares have accumulated a 44% increase (its shares went from 251 to almost 363 dollars) since the US elections, where the South African entrepreneur backed the winning horse. The latest figures indicate that he spent around 250 million dollars supporting Trump, which has resulted in an additional 344 billion dollars in Tesla's market capitalization. This is in addition to the profits he is making from cryptocurrencies.
Trump: a mixed bag
Hence, he doesn't care much if the Republican Administration cancels subsidies for electric cars, which are the only ones he manufactures. As he has done in previous years, he has enough funds to sell them at rock-bottom prices and outperform the competition. The remaining sales in the US will also be greatly reduced in the short and medium term due to the tariffs imposed on any car not manufactured in the US.