At the US electric car maker Tesla, the drop in sales in important European markets continued in April. The paragraph in Sweden fell by 80.7 percent, as can be seen from data from Friday. In the Netherlands, the decline was 73.8 percent, in Portugal at 33 percent. Also in Denmark and France Less than half as many Tesla vehicles were sold according to data from Thursday than a year ago. In Norway In contrast, sales increased by 11.8 percent.
A role in the decline plays that the company is increasingly competing with established car manufacturers such as Volkswagen and especially through newcomers China How Byd receives. “With its current product range, Tesla has largely lost its technological lead,” said Andy Leyland, co-founder of the supply chain specialist SC Insights.
At the moment that brings from Elon Musk (53) Leaded a new version of its bestseller Model Y on the market. The vehicle can be ordered in many European markets, but will not be handed over to customers until June. Only then should there be clarity about how great the influence of the model change is on sales.
After all, Musk’s support from right -wing populists encountered sharp criticism. Straighted by Musk’s politics, many customers of the former forward brand are mainly returning in Europe and on the most important US market of California. Tesla cars and branches were the goal of protests and vandalism. “The brand suffered a setback in its reputation in Europe,” said Ginny Buckley, head of the electromobility information service Electrifying.com. She referred to a survey according to which 59 percent of the respondents had named Musk’s activities as the reason for not buying a Tesla. At first, Tesla did not answer the request for comment.
Musk deposited almost 236 million Tesla shares for loans
Meanwhile, the updated annual report of the electric car manufacturer for 2024 shows that Musk has deposited a large part of his Tesla shares as security for personal loans. The tech billionaire used almost 236 million shares.
For the current course, these shares would be worth around $ 66 billion (around 58.3 billion euros). The loans that Musk secured with it must be drastically lower. Because the annual report also shows that he can use Tesla shares for a maximum of $ 3.5 billion-and that he complied with this limit.
Musk was attributed to a total of 714.75 million Tesla shares in the annual report on the date of December 31, 2024. He already kept almost 410.8 million of them, around 304 million were led as he was entitled but not yet redeemed. After an investor lawsuit, Musk has to worry about a large stock package promised in 2018.
$ 300,000 for Musk-Bruder company
The information provides at least a small insight into the finance Musk, which is considered by far the richest person in the world with an estimated assets of more than $ 300 billion. Basically, it was already known that he picks up loans for personal expenses with stocks. Musk also has a high level of participation in the space company Spaceex And he owns the AI company Xai.
The annual report also lists business between different musk companies. Xai bought battery storage from Tesla for a good 198 million dollars in 2024 and for another almost $ 37 million until February of this year. The drone company Nova Sky Stories, led by Musk’s brother Kimbal, again paid Tesla around $ 300,000 for organizing an air show.