from Hacker News

Tesla is done in Germany: 94% say they won't buy a Tesla car

by madspindel on 3/15/25, 8:21 AM with 71 comments

• by mleroy on 3/15/25, 9:38 AM

  It seems clear by now that the Tesla brand has completely fallen out of favor with the progressive, high-earning, status-conscious demographic in Germany (their main buyer group). While there are tentative trends toward avoiding US products in general, I see little potential for this becoming widespread. Few people are actually boycotting Apple or Coca-Cola, and most continue to make a clear distinction between the American people and culture (which they consider close friends) versus the current US administration. I wonder how this compares to markets like Canada or Denmark? Are other brands facing similar challenges in those countries as well?

• by mk89 on 3/15/25, 9:04 AM

  With more and more alternatives available, not sure why someone would in general buy a Tesla, at least here in Europe.

  They are very expensive and apparently not high quality as one would be expecting for that price. Add all the political "things" happening in the last months and that VW, BMW etc are waking up and you'll get a high number of people not wanting to buy a Tesla anymore. Probably not 94% but I think it's pretty close.

• by LeonM on 3/15/25, 9:43 AM

  Teslas have been very popular in the Netherlands, and by far the best selling cars (Model 3 as of 2019 [0], Model Y in 2023 [1] and 2024 [2]), but sales have been declining for a while now. Though I'm not under the impressions that this has anything to do with Musk's recent actions, in my observation it's just that other car options have become available.

  Tesla became very popular because EVs were heavily subsidised and Tesla was the only good EV option for quite a few years. Other manufacturers either didn't have EVs, or they were very impractical, awkward and ugly.

  European manufacturers eventually woke up and started introducing EVs, and although they are a common sight on the street now (BMW, VW and Porsche in particular) they are still rather expensive, so Tesla remained popular for a while.

  But in recent year Korean (Kia, Hyundai) and Chinese (BYD, NIO, etc.) manufactured cars have matured a lot. Their designs have improved considerable to a point where my friends, who consider themselves hardcore car guys, actually like them. Now a new Kia or BYD (heck, even Hongqi) is becoming well accepted and seem on-par in social status as a Tesla.

  So this is purely anecdotal, but in my social circles at least nobody seems to consider Musk's actions in choosing a new car, it's just that other options have become available.

  [0] https://www.autoweek.nl/verkoopcijfers/2019/ [1] https://www.autoweek.nl/verkoopcijfers/2023/ [2] https://www.autoweek.nl/verkoopcijfers/2024/

• by formerly_proven on 3/15/25, 8:53 AM

  94% comes from a non-representative online poll, but Tesla sales already about halved in 2024 and the first months of 2025 saw another halving to 70+% reduction YoY. So it's certainly quite bad.

  But I also wonder, with germany being a very SUV-centric market, if this has something to do with the tesla SUVs (X and Y) just being uniquely butt-ugly. If you have working eyes, there are just so many options which look much nicer these days, and unlike ten years ago there is no big performance gap.

• by Findecanor on 3/15/25, 8:51 AM

  Official sales figures have plummeted here in Sweden as well. I'm not surprised.

• by GuestFAUniverse on 3/15/25, 10:00 AM

  "...a couple of Seig Heil..." -- that's not even a thing.

  It's "Sieg Heil". I've yet to read German articles doing so many errors when using or quoting foreign languages.

  Doesn't change the general quality of any article, but it bothers me, that English speaking journalists seem so outright ignorant when it comes basic proof reading -- names, locations, basic phrased,... often ridiculously botched.

• by BonoboIO on 3/16/25, 12:15 AM

  Why is this flagged?

• by numpad0 on 3/15/25, 9:05 AM

  So that's why there is a hydrogen bus story on the top page right now...

• by CaffeineLD50 on 3/16/25, 3:14 AM

  19% of Germans see AfD "favorably" according to Pew Research.

  Even they don't want a Tesla?

• by 2-3-7-43-1807 on 3/15/25, 2:58 PM

  there are many reasons why i wouldn't buy a tesla - none is of political nature.

• by needcontainers on 3/15/25, 8:47 AM

  The article states that T-Online, a German news outlet, polled 100,000 readers, with 94% rejecting Tesla and only 3% considering a purchase. While the sample size is unusually large for a survey, the methodology isn’t detailed in the article. Online reader polls, like those often conducted by news sites, are typically self-selecting—participants choose to respond rather than being randomly sampled. This introduces significant bias, as those motivated to participate may already hold strong opinions, especially given Musk’s polarizing public image. Without information on how the survey was conducted (e.g., random sampling, controls for bias), its scientific validity is questionable.

• by secondary_op on 3/15/25, 9:20 AM

  observe how EU is brewing another global humanitarian crisis, war or just idiocracy.

• by hello_computer on 3/15/25, 9:07 AM

  It is ridiculous that it took politics and a trade war to get people to finally stop buying overpriced windows update control-grid pedestrian-mowers that take anywhere between 30 minutes and 12 hours to re-fuel. People are so hooked on their status symbols. He could have made underwear that randomly tazes your balls, and if he charged enough for it, and sold it in cute & seamless packaging, people would buy it!

  That's kind of the point of status symbols, isn't it? I have tattoos on my face, but still make more than your doctor. I bought an imported car that's in the shop half the time, but that's just an opportunity to drive one of my other imported cars. I wear underwear that zaps my jimmies every now and again, but... you get the picture.

• by anovikov on 3/15/25, 8:42 AM

  Now electric car transition there is done, too: they won't buy Teslas, but Chinese electric cars are banned, and European one are incredibly expensive, lose money to their makers, and just plain suck. All hope is for "european" cars made by Chinese brands that are "reassembled" (sometimes by doing as little as bolting the wheels on) from "kits" coming from China. Like Volvo. They are actually decent and may be better than Teslas.