Tesla sales almost halved in Europe last month

Same story as https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43170090

Considering the salute he's done on the stage, I'm shocked that it just halved.

This observation is completely separated from my political beliefs. Many people are sensitive on that subject, and if you fiddle with that, those people react. It's not rocket science. This is the reason why almost no CEO talks politics - well, except Elon.

It’s been a surprisingly emotional stretch in Germany these past few weeks. Between drastic shifting U.S. politics, the rising cost of living in our major cities, and recent isolated incidents that have rattled public sentiment, there’s a growing sense of urgency and determination in the air in my (mostly tech and Enterpise) surroundings.

What stands out most is how quickly this mood has shifted from anxiety to a “let’s build it ourselves” mentality. I see it in the new products and projects around me: there’s a growing effort to reduce reliance on the U.S. and carve out distinctly European solutions. In employment, too, we’re noticing an uptick in candidates who seem more interested in staying or coming to Europe —- something that was slowly happening since covid, but feels quite different from six months ago.

There could be a silver lining here. Despite the political and economic challenges, this could open up blocked opportunities for Europe to regain its competitive edge. Everything before was "there is a better, cheaper, available, from US", now enterprises don't trust their data off EU. If we can move beyond committee-driven decision-malkings fast enough, it might just be the catalyst Europe needed to reclaim and reinvent its place in the global marketplace. Maybe, who knows, maybe, the immidiate recommendation to a tech startup (non B2B) won't be "you need to move to SF!" too.

Personally, I decided against having a Tesla and went for a german brand this year, despite german ones being bad in tech UX. Maybe if soon there is a EU OpenAI/Claude level capable too.

At a normal company, the board would remove the CEO before this point. His behavior is harming sales which is harming the shareholders. If you are a capitalist and you beleive in shareholder primacy, there is only one thing to be done.

Current 2018 Model 3 owner, buying the R2 as soon as its available to me.

My wife is Dominican and him defending a known white supremacist, a teenager who says things like

"You could not pay me to marry outside of my ethnicity."

"Just for the record, I was racist before it was cool"

Good luck Tesla team.