Tesla’s sales across Europe are continuing to slide, even as demand for electric cars rises.
The latest car sales data shows that Tesla sold 8,729 vehicles across the EU last month, down from 14,682 in May 2024. That is a 40.5% drop, which shrinks Tesla’s market share from 1.6% to 0.9%.
Tesla’s shares have been sliding across Europe through 2026, a decline blamed on the chief executive Elon Musk’s political activities, the company’s outdated model lineup, and competition from rivals such as China’s BYD.
Musk’s high-profile blowup with the US president, Donald Trump, at the start of June, came too late to affect today’s data. Tesla will be hoping that its updated Model Y model, which was expected to roll out in Europe this month, can reverse the sales slump.
Overall, sales of electric cars rose by 25% last month – with 142,776 battery electric cars sold, up from 114,231 in May 2024.
The overall European car market grew by 1.6% in May year on year but is down 0.6% during 2025.
The Chinese premier, Li Qiang, has warned that global trade tensions are “intensifying”.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2025 in Tianjin, Li said the global economy was “undergoing profound changes” – a nod to Trump’s trade wars, which have shaken the global economy this year.
Li told the event, dubbed the “Summer Davos”: “Protectionist measures are significantly increasing and global economic and trade frictions are intensifying.
“The global economy is deeply integrated and no country can grow or prosper alone.
“In times when the global economy faces difficulties, what we need is not the law of the jungle where the weak fall prey to the strong, but cooperation and mutual success for a win-win outcome.”
Speaking a few weeks after the US and China hammered out a new trade "framework", Li also said that China would “open its doors still wider to the world".
After several turbulent sessions, the financial markets seem calm this morning, as the Israel-Iran ceasefire holds.
London’s FTSE 100 share index has opened 0.1% higher, up 10 points at 8,768.
Germany’s Dax has risen 0.3% at the open, with France’s Cac gaining 0.16%.
Oil is slightly higher this morning, with Brent crude up 1.6% at $68.23 a barrel. That follows two days of heavy falls – down 7% on Monday and 6% yesterday.
The agenda
• 10am BST: Treasury committee hearing on the spending review, with Darren Jones MP, the chief secretary to the Treasury
• Noon BST: US weekly mortgage approvals data
• 3pm BST: US new home sales data for May
• 3pm BST: the Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell’s second day of testimony to Congress
We'll be tracking all the main events throughout the day … |
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