The biggest winners from Tesla's sales slump

• Tesla sales continue to decline in the US and around the world as the overall EV market grows.
• GM and other major carmakers launched an electric offensive in the US, cutting Tesla's market share.
• In Europe, Tesla is dealing with increased competition from BMW and VW as well as Chinese EVs.

Tesla is losing ground at home and globally as its sales continue a downward slide, ceding market share to other automakers that have flooded the zone with new models in recent years.

General Motors, Ford, and VW were some of the biggest winners in the US during the first quarter of 2025, during which time the EV market grew by 11% to nearly 300,000 cars sold, according to data from Cox Automotive.

In Europe, homegrown automakers like BMW and VW have seen their EV business skyrocket, while Chinese brands like BYD and Geely have also made a major push into the continent.

General Motors and other big automakers pushback in the US

Tesla sold 128,100 vehicles during the first quarter of the year, down 8.6% from the same time last year and a whopping 21% decline compared to 2023.

Despite seeing its share of the US EV market fall from 51% to 44% over the past year, Tesla remains the biggest player by a wide margin.

However, a group of traditional automakers, led by Ford and GM, has been staging an offensive against Tesla for years.

GM has launched roughly a dozen new Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC-branded EVs over the past year, ranging from the $34,000 compact Chevy Equinox EV SUV to the $300,000+ ultra-luxurious Cadillac Celestiq sedan. They've helped it gain an 11% market share after sales grew 94% year-over-year in the first quarter.

When you include Honda and Acura, which entered the EV market last spring with a pair of GM-made SUVs, General Motors and its partners now hold 16% of the market.

Other big winners include VW, up 55%; BMW, up 26%; Nissan, up 23%; and Ford, which owns about 8% of the segment and saw a 12% sales increase.

Lower-volume players in the EV space also saw explosive growth. Porsche, Toyota, Subaru, and Volvo sales up 250%, 196%, 173%, and 173%, respectively.

German and Chinese EVs are on the rise in Europe

In Europe, Tesla's decline has been even more dramatic.

The automaker saw its sales in the first two months of 2025 collapse nearly 43% from the same period last year, according to industry data, amid growing backlash against CEO Musk's and his endorsement of German far-right party AfD.

Tesla's fall comes despite overall European electric car sales growing by nearly 30% over the same period — and some of the company's German rivals appear to have benefited from Tesla's brand implosion.

Volkswagen said last week it had more than doubled its EV sales in Europe in the first quarter, while luxury brand BMW saw a 64% rise in sales of fully electric vehicles.

That poses a big problem for Tesla in the company's third-biggest market, where it sold around 327,000 electric cars last year — and it could be about to get a lot worse.

Chinese automakers like BYD, Xpeng, and Geely are expanding aggressively in Europe. Although their market share is still tiny, early data suggests that BYD is beginning to eat into Tesla's sales.

BYD outsold Tesla in Italy and Spain in the first quarter of 2025 and closed the gap on its rival in the UK and Germany, according to data compiled by market research firm Argus Media, recording huge surges in sales even as Tesla's market share plunged.

The Warren Buffett-backed EV giant exported a record number of cars in the first quarter as it took its fight against Tesla global.

Polestar, Geely's Swedish-based EV brand, reported a 76% increase in global sales during the first quarter of this year.