Tesla in the crisis: Musk loses buyer - competition strikes!

Tesla in the crisis: Musk loses buyer - competition strikes!

Grünheide, Deutschland - Tesla, the electric vehicle manufacturer under the direction of Elon Musk, is currently facing considerable challenges. According to rbb24 , the company is in a crisis that manifests itself in falling sales figures. In April 2025, the company's new registrations reported a decline of over 50% compared to the previous year, with only 5,475 newly approved vehicles in Europe.

The auto expert Ferdinand Dudenhöffer critically expresses influence on the Tesla brand about Elon Musk's influence on Elon Musk. In his opinion, Musk's political activities have harmed the brand and reduced its sympathy values. Former supporters increasingly turned away from Tesla. Dudenhöffer compares Musk with the former car manager Frank Stronach, who was also politically active and whose image was passionately discussed.

growing competition and market share loss

Despite his once innovation fame, Tesla failed to present significant innovations for new models such as Model Y. In addition, the cyber truck, the current model, has massive criticism and is considered unsuitable for the European market. These developments have led Tesla to be overtaken by aggressive competition. Tagesschau reports that in the first quarter 2025, sales of 46.1%, which also had a negative impact on the market shares.

factories in Europe are also under pressure. While the plant in Grünheide offers a production capacity of 500,000 vehicles per year, Tesla produced only 1.77 million cars in 2022. Dudenhöffer fears that the expansion plans in Grünheide could be on the brink, which would make the already low utilization of the works.

strategy change and state dependence

The dominance of manufacturers such as BYD, which Tesla overhauled with 7,231 vehicles sold in April 2025, has been a serious threat. Through strategic decisions, BYD has focused on markets with a lower competition and offers cheaper models. Tesla, on the other hand, does not compete in the price range that customers are increasingly heading. The analysis shows that Tesla was able to settle a total of 1.8 million fully electrical vehicles in 2023, but faced an intensive competition.

These market developments are further reinforced by the dependence on state subsidies. After critical political developments, including possible deletions of electric car funding programs by the US government, Dudenhöffer sees the trust of investors in Musk weakened. Musk has announced that it is increasingly concentrating on Tesla, but the pressure on companies continues to grow.

Future view

The EU electronics industry shows continuous growth, and electric cars now make up 15.3% of all new registrations, which means an increase of three percentage points. Nevertheless, Tesla is under pressure, not only from traditional manufacturers such as Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz, who have significantly increased their deliveries of electric cars, but also from new Chinese actors who are planning investments in Europe.

The outlook for Tesla is both challenging and uncertain. According to various analysts, the success of the company is strongly linked to the restoration of its image and adaptation to the rapidly changing market conditions. It remains to be seen whether Musk succeeds in leading Tesla out of this crisis.