Europe (and also Catalonia) punishes Tesla for Elon Musk's political drift

BarcelonaA Chinese car, the MG ZS, has been the best-selling car in Spain in February, displacing the Dacia Sandero from the top spot on the podium. Car consumption is changing and, while Chinese cars are gaining market share in Europe as a whole, in Spain and Catalonia the great brand of electrification, Tesla, is losing ground and seeing its sales plummet just when its founder and CEO, Elon Musk, has gained all his political weight as the most trusted person of the President of the United States, Donald Trump.

The figures are clear. Tesla sales in the first two months of the year have fallen by 57% in the province of Barcelona, ​​​​47% in Girona, 16% in Lleida and 62% in Tarragona. In the State as a whole, Tesla has sold 1,186 units in the first two months of the year, which is almost 44% less than in the first two months of 2024.

It is not a Catalan or Spanish phenomenon, but it is general throughout Europe. At the European level, February data is not yet available, but Tesla's decline was noticeable in January. Chinese car brands registered 37,134 vehicles in Europe in January, 52% more than in the same month last year. However, Tesla registrations suffered a 45% year-on-year drop and registered only 9,913 units, according to the latest data published by the automotive data analysis company Jato Dynamics, which highlights that sales of both the Model 3 and the Model Y show less popularity for Tesla in Europe in general.

The consultancy explains that Tesla's fall in a month in which battery electric vehicles (BEV) performed well can largely be attributed to the upcoming change of its Model Y, as well as the greater involvement of its owner, billionaire Elon Musk, in politics. "The strength of electric vehicles is particularly impressive given the significant drop in sales that Tesla experienced in January," said Felipe Muñoz, global analyst at Jato Dynamics, according to Europa Press.

Tesla's share price this week, in which the data on passenger car registrations in Europe were published by the European manufacturers' association Acea, has fallen by 16.5%, leaving the price of its shares at $281.95 per share. Since the beginning of 2025, the American electric car brand has plummeted by 30% on the stock market.

Also striking is the drop in Tesla sales in Spain, when the market is recovering and battery-electric cars, despite being far from the set objectives, are increasing in turnover. However, the Tesla Model 3 was the sales leader in February among electrified vehicles in the State, with 526 registrations, almost 32% more than a year ago. But the model that occupies second place, the Mini, with 507 registrations, grew by 4,509%.

DANA boost

In February, 90,327 cars were registered in Spain, 11% more than in 2024. This strong boost was partly due to the increase in registrations in the areas affected by the DANA in Valencia. Specifically, 5,334 units were sold to the affected municipalities, 400% more than in February last year. Without these sales, the market would grow by 5.8% in the second month of the year, according to the sector's employers' associations Anfac, Faconautro and Ganvam. During the first two months of the year, 162,443 sales have already been added, 8.4% more than last year, but still 10% below the pre-pandemic records of 2020. In the first two months, 10,241 passenger cars have been registered in the areas affected by the DANA in 2012 in January, with almost 20,000 units.