Not a good start for Tesla in Germany, where it has an alleged gigafactory allegedly in Berlin: January Tesla registrations came in 25.7% below the same month in the prior year, data released by Germany’s regulator Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (KBA) show. Registrations by all BEVs rose 23.9% in the same month. Hybrids were up 32% in the same month, plug-in-hybrids were up a stout 62.6%.
Of course, Elon Musk’s defenders will say that the first month of a quarter always looks anemic after every possible sale was squeezed into the last month of the prior quarter. Not this time: Tesla’s December 2023, down 77.1% YoY, was nothing like the final spurt we were accustomed to in prior years .
Germany’s BEV market continues to be dominated by Volkswagen Group, a company with a failed BEV strategy if Elon Musk’s defenders are to be believed. Tesla can be proud that its Model Y is Germany’s best-selling BEV, a dubious achievement as Volkswagen Group spreads its BEV sales across 15 models and 5 brands.
