Tesla’s German meltdown

Frankfurt, Germany (AFP) — Tesla sales plunged in Germany last month, official data showed Wednesday, after billionaire owner Elon Musk waded into the country’s election campaign by vocally backing the far right.

Just 1,277 of the US firm’s electric cars were registered in Europe’s biggest auto market in January, down nearly 60 percent year-on-year, the KBA federal transport authority said.

Like other electric carmakers, Tesla has seen its sales fall in Germany over the past year after the government withdrew subsidies, and amid a broader slowdown in demand for EVs in Europe.

But the drop for Musk’s firm in January contrasted with a rebound in the broader electric car sector in the country.

Musk, a close adviser to US President Donald Trump, has sparked controversy by backing the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party ahead of the February 23 polls and repeatedly insulting the country’s political leaders.

Even before Musk voiced his strong support for the party, the AfD had been rising in the polls and is now second-placed behind the centre-right CDU party.

The Tesla boss’ behavior is “extremely damaging,” Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer, director of the Center Automotive Research institute in Germany, told AFP.

“Nobody wants to be associated with it... Tesla and Musk are almost inextricably linked.”

Musk also drew criticism in Germany over his gesture at an inauguration event for Trump that critics likened to a Nazi salute, an accusation that the Tesla boss has rejected.

Afterwards, activists projected an image of the salute and the word “Heil” onto the outside of Tesla plant near Berlin.

Last month total electric car sales in Germany rebounded by over 53 percent from a year earlier, with 34,498 sold, the KBA data showed.

However sales in the same month in 2024 were very low as government subsidies had only recently been phased out, and overall the figure for January 2025 was still quite subdued.

But the sector is expected to recover in 2025, with manufacturers forced to slash prices for EVs as they race to sell more to hit stricter EU carbon emissions targets.