①Data released on Thursday by market research firm JATO Dynamics showed that in 2025, Volkswagen surpassed Tesla in pure electric vehicle sales in Europe; ②Tesla’s relatively small and gradually aging model lineup is facing fierce competition from traditional European automakers as well as Chinese rivals.
Cailian Press reported on February 5 (edited by Xia Junxiong) that data released on Thursday by market research firm JATO Dynamics showed that in 2025, Volkswagen surpassed Tesla in pure electric vehicle sales in Europe.
For Tesla, this is clearly another blow. Previously, Chinese automaker BYD had already dethroned Tesla as the global leader in electric vehicle sales last year.
JATO stated that Volkswagen’s battery electric vehicle (BEV) sales in Europe surged by 56% compared to 2024, mainly driven by the strong sales of the new ID.7 model. In contrast, Tesla’s car registrations in Europe during the same period dropped by 27%.
According to JATO data, Volkswagen sold a total of 274,278 pure electric vehicles in Europe in 2025, while Tesla’s sales reached 236,357 units.
Meanwhile, the overall European electric vehicle market is expanding.
JATO Dynamics stated that electric vehicles made ‘significant progress’ in Europe in 2025, with BEV registrations increasing by 29% year-on-year. By comparison, overall car registrations in Europe grew by only 2.3% in 2025.
The report covered data from 28 European countries, including non-EU member states Norway, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, but excluding Bulgaria and Malta.
Starting in 2025, Tesla’s market share in the European market has been continuously shrinking. Tesla’s relatively small and aging model lineup is facing fierce competition from traditional European automakers and rising Chinese competitors.
In addition to declining product competitiveness, Tesla’s falling vehicle sales are also closely related to political factors.
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, has repeatedly supported far-right forces in Europe, such as the Alternative for Germany (AfD), resulting in a certain degree of consumer backlash in Europe.
Tesla’s earnings report released last week showed that the company’s full-year revenue for 2025 decreased by 3% year-over-year, marking the first annual revenue decline.
Musk has long shifted Tesla’s narrative focus from electric vehicles to autonomous taxis (Robotaxi) and the humanoid robot Optimus.
Tesla plans to expand its Robotaxi service to seven additional markets in the United States within the first half of this year. Additionally, the company stated that it will launch the third-generation Optimus this quarter.
