Tesla Sales in Germany Actually Still Down Enormously

There’s been some buzz in the past few days about Tesla sales rising in Germany, after much press in the past year or two on declining sales there and in Europe more broadly — and across the world even more broadly.

One could say that, yes, Tesla sales rose in Germany last month. However, that’s looking at a limited window with unique circumstances, and is essentially just cherry picking. When tracking sales, we’re trying to understand trends — including, yes, changes in trends when the winds do change. But it’s smart to be cautious about changing trends until they solidify, and to back them with logical theories about why the change is occurring. As Tesla went from years of growth to genuine sales decline, I spent months cautiously noting the potential long-term change and factors at play.

So, what is happening in Germany?

Tesla’s 2,276 sales total in February 2026 is indeed up from 1,429 sales in February 2025. However, it’s still massively down from the 6,038 sales in February 2024. That’s a 62% drop in sales from two years ago.

Additionally, the German BEV market overall grew by 29% in February year over year, so one would expect a BEV company to see increasing sales in that time.

Also, recall that Tesla had paused Model Y production in early 2025 in order to change over the production lines from the old version of the Model Y to the new one. So, February 2025 sales were presumably unnaturally lower from the production interruption.

The broader point, in my opinion, is that Tesla sales are so much lower than they were two years ago in the largest EV market in Europe, and this is despite having a large factory in the country!

If we add in January sales numbers, Tesla had 3,152 sales in January 2024, 1,277 sales in January 2025, and 1,301 sales in January 2026. So, again, a massive decline compared to two years ago. Adding January and February sales together, we get 9,190 in 2024, 2,706 in 2025, and 3,577 in 2026. That’s a 61% decline this year compared to two years ago.

Some Tesla fans are cheering the year-over-year sales increase in Germany without looking at the broader context, or at least without acknowledging it. They want to assume huge solar growth has returned, and Tesla is going to climb again and reach new heights. Truthfully, this is not indication of that.

Across Europe, Tesla is also not doing well. In January, its sales dropped 17% year over year. That was after falling 45% year over year in January 2025….

Back to Germany, also note that Tesla had only 4.9% of the BEV market there in February. Volkswagen Group, the market leader, had 41% of the market.