Imagine losing to VW in the EV game after a 10+ year headstart. Humiliating.
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To put that into concrete numbers, VW sold 274,278 EVs to Tesla’s 236,357. And that’s just the VW brand itself—the automaker also owns Skoda (in 4th place, with 171,703 sales), Audi (5th place, 153,845 sales), Cupra (15th place, 79,269 sales), and Porsche (21st place, 32,715 sales).
274,278+171,703+153,845+79,269+32,715 = 711,813
711,813 / 236,357 = 3,01
So VW group has 3 times the sales in Europe that Tesla has. That's a bit more than "slipped behind".
Even main VW brand by itself is almost 14% higher than Tesla!
In Denmark with 70% EV sales, No Tesla model is even in top 10 anymore! And that's despite Tesla basically only sell 2 models!
With the whole Greenland thing, I can imagine that people in Denmark especially would be against buying a car from an American brand
Yes that is true, but this trend started already late 2024, and in 2025 Tesla sales were consistently 50% below 2024. Even before Greenland became an issue.
Sweden, Germany and France have had similar decline to Denmark in Tesla sales. And finally sales in Norway are declining for Tesla too. IDK why, but for some reason Tesla remained a darling in Norway longer than for any other European country.
But apparently the bubble is bursting in Norway now:
https://www.carscoops.com/2026/02/tesla-sales-collapse-evs-january/
Saddest part is that WV group is struggling, closing factories and doing layoffs. All the while Elon swimming around In new investments every day.
Volkswagen sucks. The only reason they are doing relatively well is because Musk has been the perfect spokesperson for every other car company except his own.
VW could have massively long-term profited from this but nope. They make mediocre EVs and to make it worse, they are even backpedaling from their earlier modest investments into EVs.
VW’s Dieselgate scandal.
There's very little reason to believe this changed anything. They are angry that they got caught, not because they did it.
Can we add Volvo to that list? Just go buy Korean brands.
Or cheap French, those are doing well.
Fuuuuuuuuck i was looking at a Volvo... What are they up to?
Outdated.
Expensive.
Banking on eco friendly with recycled look, but aren't actually all that eco.
Currently prone to being set ablaze, currently going through a recall.
SUPER INEFFICIENT. like one of the worst efficient cars I've test driven.
Super heavy, they cram inefficient batteries as they recycle ice bases and just increase the battery size = extra weight = extra cost to charge etc.
There's a lot honestly. You got to compare it to what is out there right now. People tend to compare them to their current 10 year old car or are simply blind to the flaws. Genuinely, I wouldn't recommend it or polestar to anyone unless you really like how they look and you care not about money.
Volvo belongs to Geely which owns a few other brands focused on electric cars such as Polestar and Zeekr.
Can't wait for the whole Musk fata morgana to crater, couldn't happen to a nicer guy...
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