Tesla sales are crashing in Europe; will India cheer up Elon Musk?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, slated to visit the United States this month to meet President Donald Trump, is also likely to meet Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, still the world's wealthiest man and now chief of the newly-formed US department of government efficiency (DOGE). However, no official confirmation on the meeting is available as yet.

Advance reports indicate that Musk is likely to advocate for a level playing field for his electric cars. He may also seek early regulatory approval to begin operations for affordable satellite internet service Starlink in India, along with boosting collaboration with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

With good reason, perhaps. Last year, Musk had delayed, and then indefinitely postponed, his planned India visit as he faced "the moment of truth" when Tesla announced its quarterly results amid negative growth in China and massive global layoffs.

“Unfortunately, very heavy Tesla obligations require that the visit to India be delayed. But I do very much look forward to visiting (India) later this year," Musk had posted on X, the social media platform he owns, in April 2024.

Those obligations have just got heavier. In a report published on 5 February, the New York Times reported that Tesla’s sales in Germany had seen a massive drop of 59 per cent in January this year, as Musk exhorted German voters to support a right-wing nationalist party in the country’s general election, chastising them for focusing too much on “past guilt” for Nazi-era crimes.

This, coupled with Musk's double Nazi salute at Trump's inauguration on 20 January, could have caused German buyers to turn their backs on the man who has been slashing the US government budget and could well be instrumental in Trump signing executive decisions to close down such agencies as USAID, which many observers are calling a 'self-inflicted wound'.

Germany isn't the only European nation on a seemingly anti-Tesla trajectory. The electric car's sales plummeted 63 per cent in France in January from the same time last year, and 12 per cent in Britain, whose Prime Minister Keir Starmer has been the target of Musk's inflammatory social media posts.

"Sweden, where a mechanics’ strike against Tesla is now in its second year, saw demand for its cars slide 44 per cent last month, while sales in Norway dropped 38 per cent," the New York Times report stated.

To place these losses in context, France saw a mere 6 per cent decline in total car sales, with electric vehicle sales dropping by just 0.5 per cent. Similarly in the UK, battery EV sales were 35 per cent higher in January 2025 than in January 2024. In other words, the pie is expanding, but Tesla is getting a smaller and smaller share of it.

Ironically, even the US market has been showing an aversion to Tesla, though not as pronounced as Europe. In California, "the largest US market for electric cars" according to NYT, Tesla sales have been on the decline for months, and registration of new Tesla vehicles dropped 11.6 per cent in 2024 even as nationwide sales of electric cars and trucks rose 1.2 per cent.

The beleaguered electric carmaker has in the past proposed supporting India's battery storage capabilities with its 'Powerwall' during recent meetings. Musk is also aiming to build a Tesla supply system in India.

After PM Modi's re-election for a record third term in June 2024, the Tesla CEO congratulated him saying he was "looking forward to my companies doing exciting work in India".

"Appreciate your greetings @elonmusk. The talented Indian youth, our demography, predictable policies, and stable democratic polity will continue to provide the business environment for all our partners," Modi responded.

PM Modi will travel to the US for a bilateral visit after attending the AI Summit in Paris on 11-12 February.

With IANS inputs