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submitted 3 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

Europeans still aren't buying Teslas with figures out Wednesday showing sales plunged for a fifth month in a row in May, a blow to investors who had hoped anger toward Elon Musk would have faded by now.

Tesla sales fell 28% last month in 30 European countries even as the overall market for electric vehicles expanded sharply, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association. The poor showing comes after Tesla's billionaire CEO had promised a “major rebound” was coming last month, adding to a recent buying frenzy among investors.

They were selling on Wednesday, pushing the prices down more than 4% in early afternoon trading.

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[-] [email protected] 90 points 3 weeks ago

Apart of Elon being idiot why would we even consider buying Tesla anyway? Competition is much better when it comes to things like access to authorized service. Charging network is a non-issue in Europe as we have full roaming and one socket standard and brands like Kia, Mercedes or even BYD have competitive prices while all being great quality.

[-] [email protected] 59 points 3 weeks ago

Also, one huge Pro to not having a tesla is not having to worry about it blowing up for no reason.

[-] [email protected] 16 points 3 weeks ago
[-] [email protected] 17 points 3 weeks ago

Or it being a death trap in an accident.

[-] [email protected] 14 points 3 weeks ago

c'mon, incidental explosions are what make life exciting!

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[-] [email protected] 30 points 3 weeks ago

According to Tim Urban's blog article on Tesla and Muck from 2015, one of Muck's stated goals was to jumpstart the other auto manufacturers into producing their own EVs to accelerate the trend toward a more sustainable energy future. Whether that was true then or now is irrelevant, but it is nice to see EVs of many brands being made and purchased. Obligatory Fuck Muck, existential disappointment that he will forever be.

[-] [email protected] 35 points 3 weeks ago

That is the one credit I will give to Tesla and Musk, they made the EV not only a realistic choice, but actually cool.

The original Model S was a cool car when it was launched, but now there are plenty of other cooler alternatives.

[-] [email protected] 14 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

It's not rare for the first company to bring a product to market to not be the top dog once other companies get involved.

For instance, Kodak pretty much invented the digital camera, but Canon and Nikon are the clear leaders now while Kodak's digital camera division was sold off.

[-] [email protected] 13 points 3 weeks ago

Xerox has entered the chat, with the first commercial photocopier, the GUI, laser printer, and computer mouse, in addition to the ones you think of.

[-] [email protected] 12 points 3 weeks ago

It’s not rare for the first company to bring a product to market to not be the top dog once other companies get involved.

Except Tesla wasn't the first mass market EV. It wasn't even the second. The first would be the GM EV1 in 1997:

Many would argue that the EV1 doesn't count because it was on old technology. Fine then, the Nissan Leaf from 2009 then sporting its lithium battery:

Tesla Model S brought performance, range and styling that both of those were missing. However, we don't need Tesla anymore in the world if Musk is still benefiting from it.

[-] [email protected] 12 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Those advancements were made possible by the Roadster, which was the true pioneering product that made EVs cool again. A car that was dreamed up and invented by Martin Eberhard, and would go on to be built by someone else that gave him the shittiest end of the most shit-covered stick there ever was.

Everything that has given Tesla a reputation as an imnovative company was either done by the original inventor or their amazing engineers over the years.

Elon brings money and celebrity recognition to the company. If the celebrity recognition turns and becomes a net negative, the money is going to start becoming an issue too because his loans might get called and then he's got nothing to bring to the table. I choose to dream about that future right now.

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[-] [email protected] 9 points 3 weeks ago

Electric cars have been around for a very long time. According to Wikipedia, in 1912, 38% of 33,842 cars in the US were electric.

I think that Tesla showed that a modern performance car could be electric. It made electric cars cool again.

I would never be caught in a Tesla though.

[-] [email protected] 8 points 3 weeks ago

The first would be the GM EV1 in 1997:

Flocken Elektrowagen, 1888

image

The Flocken Elektrowagen is a four-wheeled electric car designed by Andreas Flocken (1845–1913), manufactured in 1888 by Maschinenfabrik A. Flocken in Coburg. It is regarded as the first real electric car.

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[-] [email protected] 7 points 3 weeks ago

In Tesla's case, its because they rushed to beat the competition. You'll notice they were a "tech company" not a traditional car company. The actual car companies came out with mature, fully baked, offerings rather than trying to be the first.

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[-] [email protected] 7 points 3 weeks ago

Rivian seems better in literally every way, isn't it?

[-] [email protected] 10 points 3 weeks ago

It's been a while since I looked at EVs, but my (US) experience at the time was that Tesla was one of very few companies offering sedan-shaped EVs. The US market was full of crossovers & SUVs (like Rivian), and that form factor seems antagonistic to many of the things that make high performance, long range EVs: terrible aerodynamics, high body weight, poor visibility... They're big enough to fill will batteries to compensate for the poor efficiency, but that just raises costs.

[-] [email protected] 8 points 3 weeks ago

Had a conversation about this the other day with a coworker, albeit about ICE cars but still applicable I think. Car manufacturers made tremendous progress in effeciency and negated all of that by justifying making their cars 2x bigger than they were 20 years ago. It's ridiculous. A modern Subaru Outback is about the same size as a mid-90s Suburban. Gets about the same mileage as my 2001 Outback, even with all the effeciency tech

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[-] [email protected] 6 points 3 weeks ago

In Europe at least, Chinese cars.

Last month on my neck of the woods, YoY car sales were up 16% and yet Tesla was down 68% this month alone, while BYD was up 331,6% (yes, 3 digits).

With these changes, Tesla isn't even in the top 10 anymore (at one point it was #2!) and has been leapfrogged by BYD, who seems very likely to continue climbing and break into the top 3 sellers.

Tesla is dead.

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[-] [email protected] 63 points 3 weeks ago

who had hoped anger toward Elon Musk would have faded by now

Even fucking goldfish remember what he's done. He has irreversibly associated Nazism with Tesla at the same time that cheaper and better electric vehicles are coming out of China. The only way is down and that's not going to change until he is no longer part of Tesla and a lot of time has passed.

[-] [email protected] 10 points 3 weeks ago

There is precedent for a car brand started by a Nazi successfully shaking that image eventually

[-] [email protected] 6 points 3 weeks ago

Over what sort of timeframe?
Couple months? Couple years? Couple decades?

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[-] [email protected] 8 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Eve if he suddenly no longer had influence over Tesla, he's ruined their reputation enough that others have had time to catch up and make better vehicles.

[-] [email protected] 6 points 3 weeks ago

Cheaper and better EVs are here from lots of European, Korean, and (to a lesser degree) American brands.

It's been a long time since was "the only choice".

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[-] [email protected] 52 points 3 weeks ago

Looks like Elon took the “shut your stupid fucking mouth up” advice. Too bad the damage to his image is irreversible. Oh well. I’m afraid I’m all out of tiny violins as well.

[-] [email protected] 51 points 3 weeks ago

🤣 🤣

a blow to investors who had hoped anger toward Elon Musk would have faded by now

Methinks they may have underestimated Elonazi's dickishness, stupidity, arrogance, and power to piss people off...

OMG that's funny. 🤣 🤣

[-] [email protected] 10 points 3 weeks ago

Not too mention Tesla stock being his slush fund to ruin the world with his Nazi bullshit

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[-] [email protected] 36 points 3 weeks ago

I read Musk fired the Tesla manager for Europe and North America over the low sales, as if those weren't a direct result of Musk's own actions. Like there is only one person responsible for pushing the stupid cybertruck and for associating the brand with fascism.

[-] [email protected] 11 points 3 weeks ago

Don't you know that he's a genius and none of what he says or does can have any bad consequence? If it's not because of him, it must be because of someone else. Oh, BTW: he also fired a manager in Tesla who voiced against him damaging the brand name.

https://electrek.co/2025/06/18/tesla-manager-fired-sounding-the-alarm-explains-why-automaker-screwed/

None of these people know anything about anything. Only Elon knows!!

[-] [email protected] 30 points 3 weeks ago

Hey elon dont worry the right wing nut jobs are gonna start buying your teslas, ah right most of them are broke lol

[-] [email protected] 13 points 3 weeks ago

Even better they don't drive teslas cause they want those gas guzzler.

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[-] [email protected] 11 points 3 weeks ago

Awww go fashy, stonk crashy :'( :'( LOL

[-] [email protected] 26 points 3 weeks ago

Let's keep it going, I wanna get paid for getting a Tesla.

[-] [email protected] 13 points 3 weeks ago

Unless he steps down as CEO and sells all his shares I don't see a Tesla redemption arc in Europe anytime soon.

[-] [email protected] 10 points 3 weeks ago

Even then it’s a shitty company, cause look how long they’ve tolerated him for.

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[-] [email protected] 21 points 3 weeks ago

Needs to be in the negative worldwide.

[-] [email protected] 20 points 3 weeks ago

Could I have a list of these "investors?" Because they sound like fools who deserve to be tricked out of their money.

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[-] [email protected] 18 points 3 weeks ago

Oh, i thought it was only down because Elon was off in Washington making America super awesome and not around to provide his brilliant leadership to Tesla

[-] [email protected] 17 points 3 weeks ago

At this point if a person buys teslas they are either a Nazi or ignorant and neither is good.

[-] [email protected] 8 points 3 weeks ago

Ignorant, e.g. the "I didn't know" crowd 1 mile downwind of the concentration camp.

[-] [email protected] 14 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Well, at least his big robotaxi trial is going smoothl— uh, oh no.

[-] [email protected] 12 points 3 weeks ago

Let's hope they drop even further 🙏

[-] [email protected] 11 points 3 weeks ago

Even MAGAs are embarrassed to drive one of his Nazi mobiles

[-] [email protected] 10 points 3 weeks ago

Sad part is that they’re getting outcompeted by the Chinese EVs, not the European carmakers. The whole money will just fund CCP’s ambitions instead of US ambitions, neither of which is good for European future

[-] [email protected] 7 points 3 weeks ago

I hate how much BYD pays people off. And they're suing people in China for "damaging their brand". I guess so did Tesla that one time, but only one of them runs slave camps (including outside of China).

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[-] [email protected] 9 points 3 weeks ago

If you want EVs to be a thing, China has won the round on this one.

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[-] [email protected] 8 points 3 weeks ago

I’ll be happy when there’s nothing to report because there are no more sales.

[-] [email protected] 6 points 3 weeks ago

And their stock is still too damn high!

[-] [email protected] 7 points 3 weeks ago

that stock price is not rooted in anything real (and hasn't for a long time). I can't wait until that bubble bursts with a bang i can hear from Europe.

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this post was submitted on 26 Jun 2025
707 points (98.6% liked)

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