It seems like Elon Musk stoking a civil war in England isn’t good for Tesla’s sales there

Tesla’s EV registrations in the UK, its biggest market in Europe, took a dramatic hit in October 2025 — just 511 units — marking one of the brand’s weakest showings in recent memory. That’s a steep drop from 971 in October 2024 and 2,677 in October 2023. The tone of the market is shifting.

Maybe Tesla’s CEO stoking a civil war in England isn’t helping the automaker’s demand in the important market.

Tesla’s sales have been struggling in Europe over the past two years, and the decline has been accelerating in 2025.

While some believed that things were stabilizing for the American automaker in Europe, the October data tells a different story. Tesla had its worst month of deliveries of the year in 12 of its 15 biggest European markets.

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As Tesla sales in Germany crashed over the last year, partly because Tesla CEO Elon Musk supported the far-right AfD party, the UK became Tesla’s biggest market in Europe.

But now it looks like the UK is going in the same direction.

According to registration data, Tesla delivered only 511 vehicles in the UK in October 2025. Tesla has over 50 stores in the country – that’s an average of roughly 10 vehicles per location for the whole month.

It’s the worst monthly performance since October 2022.

Much as Tesla’s demand crashed in Germany, Elon Musk’s politics might be behind the lower demand in the UK.

The CEO regularly comments on UK politics and often shares inflammatory reports about crimes perpetrated by immigrants. He also shares misleading crime and immigration statistics aimed at spreading hatred.

After he tweeted that “Civil war is inevitable. Just a question of when.”, he was accused of stoking a civil war in the country.

Musk’s public commentary on UK topics has sparked backlash and resulted in his “unfavorability rating” reaching 80% in the country.

Electrek’s Take

Meanwhile, Tesla’s demand cliff is opening the door to competitors. BYD is now expected to outsell Tesla in the whole year of 2025 in the UK despite Tesla having a presence in the market for much longer.

Not many industry watchers thought it would happen this fast.

Tesla appears to be completely missing out on the surge of EV sales in Europe due to a mix of having a stagnant EV lineup, brand problems brought on by a controversial CEO, and increased competition.

In the US, Musk is believed to have cost Tesla about 1 million sales over the last 3 years.

I think it will soon be approaching this number in Europe.