Elon Musk, during a news conference with President Donald Trump, inside the Oval Office at the White House in Washington on May 30, 2025.
Tom Brenner | The Washington Post | Getty Images
Sales of Tesla cars in Europe plunged in July, in the company’s seventh consecutive month of declines, while Chinese rival BYD saw a monthly surge, data released on Thursday showed.
New car registrations of Tesla vehicles totaled 8,837 in July, down 40% year-on-year, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers Association, or ACEA. BYD meanwhile recorded 13,503 new registrations in July, up 225% annually.
Tesla’s declines took place even as overall sales of battery electric cars rose in Europe, ACEA data showed.
Elon Musk’s automaker faces a number of challenges in Europe including intense ongoing competition and reputational damage to the brand from the billionaire’s incendiary rhetoric and relationship with the Trump administration.
Tesla has struggled globally in recent times. The company’s auto sales revenue fell in the second quarter of the year and Musk warned that the automaker “could have a few rough quarters” ahead.
One of Tesla’s issues is that it has not had a major refresh of its car line-up. The company said this year that it is working on a more affordable electric car with “volume production” planned for the second half of 2025, with investors hoping this will reinvigorate sales.
Thomas Besson, head of automobile sector research at Kepler Cheuvreux, said Tesla management has been trying to “convince investors that Tesla is not really a car company” by talking about artificial intelligence, robotics and autonomy.
“They talk about almost everything else but the car they’re selling at a slower pace now because effectively, the age of their vehicle is much higher than the competition and the latest products have not been as successful as hoped, notably the Cybertruck,” Besson told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Thursday.
But the U.S. automaker is up against Chinese players, which are launching models aggressively and ramping up their push into Europe. BYD has led that charge, opening showrooms up across the continent and launching its cars at competitive prices over the last two years.
Chinese brands commanded a record market share rate of more than 5% in the first half of the year, which is a record high, according to data from JATO Dynamics released last month.
It’s not only Tesla feeling the heat from Chinese competition. Jeep owner Stellantis, South Korea’s Hyundai Group and Japan’s Toyota and Suzuki, all posted year-on-year declines in European new car registrations in July.
By contrast, Volkswagen, BMW and Renault Group, were among those that logged increases in new European car registrations across the month.
