Tesla, sales also down in May in Europe. France -70%, Italy -20%.

Chinese brands such as Byd, MG (of Saic Motor) and Omoda (of the Chery group) are intercepting demand: +745%, +87% and +213% respectively in Spain since the beginning of the year. Tesla is losing share not because of a decline in interest in electric cars, but because of a lack of competitiveness.

In Sweden, the Model Y is overtaken by the Volkswagen ID.7; the Model 3 is beaten by the Porsche Macan Ev, BYD Seal and Xpeng G6. The Tesla range struggles in a rapidly changing market. In France, the brand disappears from the top ten, dominated by Renault, Citroën and Volkswagen. European manufacturers seem to have closed the technological and communication gap from the Elon Musk-led manufacturer.

On Wall Street, after a rally linked to Elon Musk's operational comeback, caution has returned. The month started out in negative territory (-3.8% as of Monday 2 June, at the time of this article's last update), as we approach one of the most delicate moments for the company: on 12 June, in Austin, the robotaxi service, the self-driving vehicles, will be launched. A step that Musk considers essential to relaunch margins and growth, after having cancelled the Model 2 project, a new model promised years ago to fill the gap in the sub-$30,000 price bracket.

But it is also thanks to the bet on artificial intelligence and autonomous driving - rather than industrial results - that Tesla continues to be valued as a tech company (capitalisation is back above one trillion dollars) rather than a car manufacturer: with a p/e ratio (at one year) of around 170, expectations remain high. And the market is waiting for the decisive execution phase.

It remains to be seen whether in Europe Tesla is going through a negative phase due to the devastating impact on the brand's reputation, attributable to the CEO's political stances in recent months (support for ultra-right-wing European parties, full collaboration with President Donald Trump, except in recent days when he has disowned his choices in terms of public spending) or whether it is only the beginning of a more critical phase. After the slump in revenues and profits in the first quarter, analysts expect a stabilisation phase, albeit still with falling revenues and margins under pressure.

Certainly, the current offering - few models, including the flop of the Cybertruck maxi-pickup, and restyling that has been too long in coming - struggles to keep up with the Chinese and European offensive. The Shenzhen-based giant and now global leader in electric cars, Byd, is racing and gaining share (overtaking happened in both Europe and China). But brands like MG Motor are also making remarkable progress, including Italy, where the Tesla brand is more resilient than in Germany.

In addition to the European crisis, there was also a certain slowdown in the United States, Tesla's main market, where the share of global sales started to fall in the first months of 2025. Although May numbers are missing, the first quarter had already shown signs of fatigue. As for China, despite fierce local competition, Tesla sold around 39,000 cars in May, up 32% on April (but down 30% year-on-year). These figures confirm how crucial that market remains for the American carmaker, which has its main factory in Shanghai: in the first quarter of 2025, the Dragon accounted for 40% of total deliveries.