Tesla sales in Portugal drop by a quarter in the first three months of the year
Elon Musk's electric vehicle manufacturer suffers the biggest drop among the main brands on sale in Portugal, in a move that has been seen across Europe.
Tesla was the biggest loser in the car sales field in Portugal in the first three months of the year. According to figures released this Tuesday by the Portuguese Automobile Association (ACAP), vehicles from the company led by Elon Musk suffered the biggest drop among the best-selling brands in the country.
Between January and March, 2,145 Tesla cars were registered in Portugal, a drop of 25.7% compared to the same period last year. As a whole, this market shrank by 0.8% in the first quarter of 2025.
However, the drop in Tesla sales is more impressive if we look only at the electric car segment. Sales in this market grew again, at a rate of 27.1%, and among the most popular, none fell more than the US brand.
Even so, in the electric segment, Tesla is still the best-selling brand in Portugal, but that lead is getting shorter due to increased competition from Chinese manufacturers and others. The biggest rises belonged to Peugeot, which more than doubled its sales and is in second place; and China’s BYD, which also more than doubled its registrations and is in fourth place.
In the overall table of registered vehicles, Tesla was the 13th best-selling brand, in a ranking that has Peugeot, Renault, Mercedes and Dacia at the top.
The Musk effect?
Both Tesla’s sales and share price have been under severe pressure in recent months due to a call for a boycott of the company after its founder and main shareholder, Elon Musk, took a position in Donald Trump’s government structure. After having been one of his biggest supporters in the campaign for the White House, Musk took over the leadership of the Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE, which has been notorious for making huge cuts to the civil service and many US social programmes.
In Europe, the trend of falling sales has been even more intense than in Portugal. The anti-Tesla movement has led Musk to publicly complain about the ‘hatred’ of his company and Donald Trump has even advised all Americans to buy Teslas, while setting up a kind of Tesla stand on the White House lawn.
According to data released this Tuesday by Reuters, Tesla sales also fell in the first quarter in France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway and Denmark. In some of these markets, sales fell by around 50% year-on-year in the quarter.
The new version of the Tesla Model Y, the brand’s best-seller, is about to hit the market, which may partly explain these declines, with those interested preferring to wait to buy the updated model.
