Tesla's EU Sales Plunge as Musk Takes Flak

Trump has defended Tesla but the company's sales have fallen - AFP
Trump has defended Tesla but the company's sales have fallen - AFP
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Tesla's EU Sales Plunge as Musk Takes Flak

Trump has defended Tesla but the company's sales have fallen - AFP
Trump has defended Tesla but the company's sales have fallen - AFP

Tesla electric car sales in Europe plunged in the first three months of the year, industry data showed Thursday, in a fresh blow to its boss Elon Musk who has been criticised for his work in US President Donald Trump's administration.

Sales of the sleek machines fell 45 percent to just over 36,000 units in the first quarter of 2025 in the 27-nation bloc, the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association said in a report.

They dropped by 36 percent just in March, suffering in both periods the biggest fall in sales of any of the major car groups tallied in the association's report, despite a growth in electric vehicle sales overall, AFP reported.

Tesla showrooms have been hit by vandalism, demonstrations and boycott calls in Europe and the United States in a backlash against public service cuts introduced by Musk in his role as a close adviser to Trump.

On Tuesday the company reported a 71-percent drop in first-quarter profits, signalling a hit to demand due to what it called "changing political sentiment."

It reported profits of $409 million following a drop in sales, while revenues fell nine percent to $19.3 billion.

Musk promptly announced he would scale back his work for the Trump administration in May to focus on Tesla.

- Auto tariff concerns -

Trump's combative trade policies have raised concerns in the auto sector after he enacted 25-percent tariffs on cars imported into the United States to try to boost US manufacturing.

"Uncertainty in the automotive and energy markets continues to increase as rapidly evolving trade policy adversely impacts the global supply chain and cost structure of Tesla and our peers," Tesla said on Tuesday.

"This dynamic, along with changing political sentiment, could have a meaningful impact on demand for our products in the near-term."

Tesla pointed to tariffs as another headwind for the company and analysts have also cited a stale portfolio of vehicles as among the challenges facing the company.

But Tesla said it was on track to launch new vehicles "including more affordable models" in the first half of 2025.

Analysts warn of significant brand damage to Tesla from Musk's leadership role in the "Department of Government Efficiency," which has granted itself access to government databases with sensitive personal information and implemented thousands of job cuts.

 

- EU electric car drive -

 

Electric vehicle sales grew in several EU countries including Germany, as well as non-EU member Britain, the ACEA said -- but they still only accounted for 15 percent of the auto market.

Under ambitious efforts to combat climate change, the EU introduced a set of emission-reduction targets that should lead to the sale of fossil fuel-burning cars being phased out by 2035.

However, according to AFP, ACEA director-general Sigrid de Vries in a news release highlighted a "persistent gap between ambitious decarbonisation goals, and the 'reality check' of slower-than-expected consumer uptake" of electric cars.

"It is vital that policymakers prioritise the measures that will incentivise a supportive ecosystem -- from charging infrastructure to fiscal incentives -- to ensure the uptake of zero-emission vehicles can accelerate meaningfully," she said.

Hybrid fuel-electric cars held the biggest share of the EU market: 36 percent compared to 29 percent for petrol-only vehicles.

The bloc's car industry has been plunged into crisis by high manufacturing costs, the slow switch to electric vehicles and increased competition from China.

Some manufacturers complain the switch is harder than expected as consumers have yet to warm to electric vehicles, which have higher upfront costs and lack an established used-vehicle market.

Musk in a conference call on Tuesday reiterated his bullish outlook on the long-term prospects for Tesla, highlighting its leadership in key growth areas: robotics, autonomous driving and artificial intelligence.



Huawei Launches 1st Laptops Using Home-grown Harmony Operating System

Huawei Atlas 800 inference server is displayed at InnoEX Fair, in Hong Kong, China April 15, 2025. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo
Huawei Atlas 800 inference server is displayed at InnoEX Fair, in Hong Kong, China April 15, 2025. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo
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Huawei Launches 1st Laptops Using Home-grown Harmony Operating System

Huawei Atlas 800 inference server is displayed at InnoEX Fair, in Hong Kong, China April 15, 2025. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo
Huawei Atlas 800 inference server is displayed at InnoEX Fair, in Hong Kong, China April 15, 2025. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo

Huawei launched two new laptop models on Monday, the first sold with its own Harmony operating system, in a bid to take on well-established Western Big Tech rivals even as the United States seeks to limit its access to crucial chips.

Despite its emergence as the world's leading producer of tech hardware, China's development of computer operating systems has lagged behind Microsoft (MSFT.O), and Apple (AAPL.O), whose Windows and macOS have cornered the global market for decades.

The new MateBook Fold and MateBook Pro both run on HarmonyOS 5, the latest version of an operating system Huawei Technologies began developing in 2015 and introduced five years later on its Mate series smartphones, Reuters reported.

It began developing the laptop prototypes in 2021.

"The Harmony laptop gives the world a new choice," Yu Chengdong, head of Huawei's consumer business group, said during a livestreamed launch event. "We kept on doing the hard things but the right things."

The base model of the MateBook Fold, which does not have a physical keyboard and offers an 18-inch OLED double screen when fully extended, will sell for 23,999 yuan ($3,328).

The MateBook Pro model, which uses a conventional laptop keyboard, is priced from 7,999 yuan.

Washington began restricting Huawei's access to U.S. technology in 2019 over national security concerns, pushing the company to build its own capacity to develop and produce chips and operating systems.

Huawei said the HarmonyOS for computers currently offers over 150 applications, including WPS Office from Kingsoft (3888.HK), - an alternative to Microsoft's Office - and photo editing app Meitu (1357.HK), Xiu Xiu.

By the end of 2024, over 7.2 million individual developers were developing apps for HarmonyOS, which was installed on over a billion devices, including smartphones and TVs, according to Huawei's latest annual report.

Huawei did not disclose which processing chip it had used to power the newly-launched laptops. But it said the computers' relatively high prices were the result of the cost of new manufacturing technology for the chipset.