Data released by market research company JATO Dynamics on Thursday showed that,In 2025, Volkswagen will surpass Tesla in European pure electric vehicle sales.For Tesla, this is obviously another blow. Previously, Chinese car company BYD had knocked Tesla out of the global electric vehicle sales championship last year.
JATO said that the Volkswagen brand's pure electric vehicle (BEV) sales in Europe will increase by 56% compared with 2024, mainly due to the strong sales of the new ID.7 model. By comparison, Tesla's car registrations in Europe fell 27% during the same period.
According to JATO data, Volkswagen sold a total of 274,278 pure electric vehicles in Europe in 2025, while Tesla sold 236,357 vehicles.
At the same time, Europe’s electric vehicle fleet as a whole is expanding.
JATO Dynamics said that electric vehicles have achieved "significant progress" in Europe in 2025, with registrations of pure electric vehicles increasing by 29% year-on-year. In comparison, overall European car registrations will grow by only 2.3% in 2025.
The report covers data for 28 European countries, including non-EU members Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, but excludes Bulgaria and Malta.
Starting in 2025, Tesla’s share of the European market will continue to shrink. Tesla's model lineup is small and aging, and it faces fierce competition from traditional European automakers as well as rising Chinese rivals.
In addition to the declining competitiveness of the product itself, the decline in Tesla car sales is also closely related to political factors.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has repeatedly supported far-right forces in Europe.The Alternative for Germany (AfD), for example, has therefore encountered a certain degree of consumer backlash in Europe.
Tesla's financial report released last week showed that the company's full-year revenue in 2025 fell by 3% year-on-year, marking its first annual revenue decline.
Musk has already changed Tesla's narrative focus from electric cars to robotaxi and humanoid robot Optimus.
Tesla plans to expand Robotaxi services to seven additional U.S. markets in the first half of this year. In addition, the company also said that it will launch the third generation Optimus this quarter.
