Tesla (TSLA) UK sales crash after being only positive market in Europe

Tesla (TSLA) has seen its electric vehicle sales crash in the UK after being the only positive market in a disastrous first quarter in Europe.

Over the last few months, we have extensively reported on Tesla’s cratering sales in Europe during the first quarter of 2025. Tesla’s deliveries have crashed in every single European market except for one.

The only exception was the UK, where Tesla’s sales were actually up 6% in the first quarter.

As we reported, Tesla had been heavily discounting leases of the new Model Y in the UK compared to other European markets.

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In addition, EVs were exempt from the “luxury car tax” for vehicles worth £40,000 or more, but the exemption ran out on April 1st, 2025, which pushed people to buy more EVs in Q1 2025.

Now that this is gone, Tesla’s sales are also crashing in the UK.

The market released its April registration numbers and confirmed that Tesla delivered only 512 electric vehicles in the UK last month.

That’s down 62% compared to the same period last year and 65% compared to the first month of Q1.

This is happening amid the availability of the new Model Y, and Tesla is still holding dozens of heavily discounted old Model Ys in new inventory in the UK.

Tesla’s reputation has significantly degraded in the last few months, primarily due to its CEO, Elon Musk’s political involvement.

Musk is seen by many as having financed the rise of fascism and authoritarianism in the US through his political and financial backing of Donald Trump, who has been defying court orders, deporting people without due process, and engaging in activities that use his political office to enrich himself and his cronies.

Electrek’s Take

Oh oh. Now, even the UK is down. And not just down, but down 62% year-over-year. That’s not looking good.

Tesla is rapidly going from being the market leader in Europe to becoming a niche automaker.

There are still some delusional fans who are holding on to the idea that this is not happening:

Yes, the first month of each quarter is lower than the rest due to lower inventory, but Tesla increased its inventory last quarter, and we are also comparing it to the same month last year, which was also low.

First, Tesla shareholders were claiming that the drop in Q1 was purely due to the Model Y changeover.

Now, Tesla says production is back to normal, but now people like Voigt claim the “low cost model” will bring things back to normal.

How? Tesla’s sales are down 50% in Europe. Do you think bringing a stripped-down Model Y is going to bring things back to normal? At best, it will bring Tesla down “only” ~30% in Europe, and that’s compared to 2024, which was another year of decline for Tesla.

I don’t know why these people insist on acting like Tesla’s once-incredible brand and force to accelerate the EV transition is not in crisis.

The first step is recognizing there’s a problem and they are not even there yet.