Tesla Wants To Build More EVs In Europe. Who Will It Sell Them To?

“We currently have very good sales figures,” the German factory manager said. Registration numbers show the exact opposite.

By: Iulian Dnistran

Sep 16, 2025 at 6:30am ET

Add InsideEVs as a preferred source in Google

Comment

Tesla said it would boost output at its factory in Germany.
Thanks to “very good sales figures,” the American company revised its plans for the third and fourth quarters upwards.
In Europe, Tesla sales dropped by a whopping 44% in the first seven months.

Tesla will boost production at its German electric car factory outside Berlin after seeing “very good sales figures.” That’s what the plant’s manager, Andre Thierig, told German news agency DPA, quoted by Reuters.

“We currently have very good sales figures and have therefore revised our production plans for the third and fourth quarters upwards,” he said, without detailing what the old production and revised targets are.

Tesla's German Giga Factory builds just one car: the Model Y

Photo by: Patrick George

The decision comes as the American automaker has seen a dramatic drop in sales in Europe this year. Since the beginning of 2025, registrations in the European Union have decreased by 43.5% compared to last year, reaching 77,446 units, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA).

In Germany, one of the biggest markets in the bloc, Tesla has had a tough time keeping up with the local and Chinese competition, with sales in the first seven months dropping by 57,8% year-over-year, according to the KBA road transport agency.

With few exceptions, Tesla’s sales performance in Europe has taken a hit this year, but the company believes it’s on the right track. "We supply well over 30 markets and definitely see a positive trend there,” Thierig told DPA.

What do you think?

View

Comments

Tesla assembles just one EV in Germany, the Model Y crossover, which used to be the best-selling car in Europe and, in fact, the world. That title has since gone away, with the company’s CEO, Elon Musk, blaming facelift-related factory retoolings for the dip in sales. But the reality is that the American entity has so far failed to regain lost ground.

The carmaker, which has increasingly poured resources into artificial intelligence and robotics, has traditionally been tight-lipped about the output at its facilities around the world, and it doesn’t offer delivery figures for each model and each market. Instead, the Model 3 and Model Y are bundled together, with the Model Y, Model S and Cybertruck combined into the “Others” category.