Are European roads empty Tesla? The electric dream of the old continent, at least for the most iconic American brand, seems to fade abruptly. Tesla sales in Europe are in free fall, with a thud that is incredible: in Germanydriving force of the continental car market, The collapse touches 60%. Purchase numbers that photograph a black January for the car manufacturer of Elon Musk, with double -digit drops that They are also recorded in France and the United Kingdom, respectively -63% and -12%.
A débâcle unexpected, which lights the spotlight on the reasons for this sudden behind. If in the beginning there was talk of Difficulty related to the launch of the new Model Ywith consequent production stops in some factories, now the scenario becomes more complex and disturbing. Once again, the “once again ends upMUSK effect“. The increasingly pervasive and controversial political positions of the patron of Tesla, now openly deployed in the international chessboard and paladin of the “Make Europe Great Again” movement On the wave of American Trumpism, they would be triggering a boomerang effect on European sales.
The alarm launched are several market analysts, who do not exclude a Direct link between Musk’s political exterments and the disaffection of European motorists towards his electric cars. The public and repeated endorsement in favor of the AFD German ultra -decay party, culminating in the hospitality reserved for the leader Alice Weidel in a direct social on X, and the explicit support offered to the party in view of the German elections of March, they may have weighed as boulders on consumer purchase choices. As well as the criticisms of the vitriol aimed at the British premier Keir Starmerwhich have generated overname long wave.
But not only. To feed the perfect storm that is breaking down on Tesla would also contribute the controversial declarations on German culture and alleged “senses of guilt of the past” linked to the Second World War. Words that, read on the light, They appear as a veiled – but not too much – justification for revisionist positionsand who triggered a wave of indignation and controversy, especially in a sensitive and attentive country like Germany compared to the wounds of history.
And if Musk’s political activism seems to have triggered a repulsion effect between European consumers, especially those most sensitive to certain values and positions, to this is added the concrete risk of a real “political” boycott of the Tesla products. An appeal that becomes more and more pressing and that finds fertile ground in an old continent that – not to say distrust – towards the sovereign and populist derives of American matrix.
To complete the non -rosy picture for Tesla in Europe, we also put competition, increasingly fierce and pressing, especially that coming from China. Chinese car manufacturers are putting forward to the European electric cars market, proposing competitive and technologically advanced models at more accessible prices Compared to Tesla. A direct challenge that the American giant must now face with new strategies and countermeasures, if he wants to avoid losing further ground.
And while Tesla’s shareholders and investors maintain a cautious optimism for now, aware of the brand’s solidity and the potential of the electric car market, the alarm bell sounds strong and clear. The “Musk effect”, with its mix of brilliant vision and controversial political positions, risks compromising Tesla’s race in Europe. And if the strategy of the American patron is that of polarize the marketfocusing on a more conservative and less sensitive clientele to environmental issues – as the analysis of the US market would seem to suggest – the risk is to definitively alienate large slices of the European market, traditionally more oriented to progressive values and sensitive to green themes.
A risk that Tesla cannot afford to run, especially in a historical moment so delicate for the automotive sector, struggling with the transition to electricity and with an increasingly ruthless global competition. And while In Rome the episodes of vandalism against the Tesla parked on the street multiplyas if to seal an atmosphere of growing hostility towards the brand, Tesla’s future in Europe appears more and more uncertain and linked to strategic choices that will inevitably have to take into account – also and above all – of the “Musk effect”.
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