Tesla registered 19,390 new cars in Germany in 2025, down 48.4% from 2024, according to KBA data reported by Reuters. That is a severe setback for the automaker—but registration figures alone cannot prove that Elon Musk caused it. Reporting points to several pressures, including backlash against Musk’s politics, stronger competition, an ageing lineup and buyers’ timing around the updated Model Y.
How far did Tesla’s German registrations fall?
The full-year measure is stark: Tesla recorded 19,390 new registrations in Germany in 2025, 48.4% fewer than in 2024, Reuters reported from data published by Germany’s Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA). Reuters’ report on the 2025 total describes new registrations, not orders or deliveries. “Sales” is common shorthand, but registrations are the more precise measure here.
The contrast with the broader electric-car market was visible in one month: in September 2025, Tesla’s German volume fell 9.4% year over year while battery-electric vehicle (BEV) registrations overall rose 31.9%, Reuters reported from KBA data. That September comparison is not a full-year market comparison, but it shows Tesla’s decline was not simply the result of every electric-car registration falling at once.
Did Musk’s politics cause the decline?
They may have contributed, but the available figures do not isolate their effect. Reuters cited political backlash against Musk alongside growing competition and an ageing product lineup as explanations for Tesla’s weak performance. The registration total establishes the scale of the 2025 drop; it cannot tell how many prospective buyers changed brands because of Musk, how many chose a rival model, or how many delayed a purchase.
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It is reasonable to say Musk’s political profile became a business risk in Germany, where consumers could respond to it when choosing a car. It is not supported to present the data as proof that a boycott was the sole or decisive cause. The same evidence leaves room for product appeal, competitors’ offerings, prices, supply and purchase timing to affect registrations.
Why the Model Y refresh and competition matter
Buyers may have waited for the updated Model Y
Reuters reported that registrations in parts of Europe rose with the updated Model Y. When a major model is due for a refresh, some buyers may postpone registering a car until the new version arrives. That can shift registrations between periods without showing how much underlying demand changed. The reporting does not quantify how much this timing effect contributed to Germany’s 2025 full-year decline.
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Rivals make a weak product cycle more consequential
An ageing lineup can lose ground as other manufacturers offer buyers more alternatives. Reuters included increasing competition among the pressures on Tesla. The supplied comparisons do not provide a full-year German brand-by-brand table, so they do not establish which rivals gained Tesla’s lost registrations or by how much.
What happened after the 2025 slump?
The 2025 fall was not an uninterrupted trend. KBA’s August 2026 brand release listed 32,258 Tesla registrations in Germany year to date, up 182.0% against the comparable period. The KBA August 2026 release supplies the official year-to-date figure.
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A secondary compilation of KBA data reports Tesla registrations up 268.7% year over year in September 2026. That monthly figure should be treated as provisional unless confirmed in KBA’s original release. Separately, Germany’s auto-industry association VDA noted that factory-holiday timing affected the August 2026 market comparison, a reminder that individual monthly changes can be distorted by calendar effects. VDA’s August market commentary discusses that context.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the numbers do—and do not—show
- They show: Tesla’s German new registrations fell sharply in 2025, and in September that year Tesla declined while BEV registrations overall rose.
- They do not show: that Musk alone caused the decline, that all buyers were rejecting Tesla for political reasons, or that the 2025 slump continued through 2026.
- They support: a more careful reading in which political backlash was one reported headwind among several, while model timing, lineup age and competition also mattered.
For buyers and investors, registrations are a useful snapshot of cars newly put on the road, not a direct measure of orders, deliveries, brand sentiment or the reason behind each purchase. A sustained trend is more informative than one month’s movement, especially when product launches and factory-holiday timing can shift comparisons.
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