Does the Tesla Brand Need a Fast Charge for New Competitive Energy in Europe?

Executive summary: Tesla’s brand momentum in Europe is slowing as purchase intent declines from its 2023 peak, according to Escalent’s 2025 EVForward® Europe study findings. While European consumers still respect Tesla’s pioneering technology and charging infrastructure, rivals are catching up on performance and surpassing Tesla on styling and emotional appeal. Escalent’s data show that Tesla’s minimalist design, high prices and diluted brand distinctiveness are weakening its edge. To stay competitive, Tesla must recharge its brand energy beyond technology by delivering BEVs that resonate both functionally and emotionally with European car buyers.

From Promising Progress to Pedestrian Pace?

In 2012 Tesla caught the imagination of the world with the launch of the Model S. Followed in 2015 by the Model X, Tesla rapidly overtook the established automotive brands usually recognized as innovators in the category. Affordable to only some but respected by almost all, the Tesla brand amassed massive equity as it assumed the role of disruptive battery electric vehicle (BEV) innovator.

Model 3 and Model Y should have allowed Tesla to capitalize on the brand’s respect through price points a bit more in reach for average new-car buyers … but perhaps not enough car shoppers reached out, so Tesla lowered prices.

Our EVForward® Europe study on the next generation of EV buyers—which surveys new-car shoppers in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK every year—indicates that having achieved a high point in 2023, Tesla purchase intention levels first plateaued in 2024 and have since been declining into 2025. Why might that be?

Part of the reason for the decline could be the fickle nature of fashion with what was once considered trendy being no longer viewed as such—but are there some more substantial reasons within Tesla’s BEV product portfolio that translate to declining purchase intent among new-car shoppers?

Is Tesla a Victim of Its Own Success?

In the same way the Toyota Prius was the suit of clothes that distinguished its owner as a progressive thinker at the turn of the century, buying a Tesla successfully created the same association for owners. However, once Tesla ownership reached beyond Innovators and Early Adopters, some of the brand’s emotional impact became diluted, hampering the brand’s ability to stand out among the majority of consumers.

Does a diminished emotional impact, a clever but very different BEV product portfolio, and limited BEV charging infrastructure equip the Tesla brand for future success?

Our EVForward Europe 2025 data indicate that while Elon Musk’s recent prominence is the least impressive facet of the Tesla brand among European new-car buyers, there are enough other factors—both positive and negative—that are more likely to impact future success.

Does Tesla Compete Beyond Its Tantalizing Technology?

European car buyers continue to respect Tesla as the pioneer of BEVs, recognize what have been class-leading journey ranges and attach integrity to the brand for having the vision for creating BEV charging infrastructure. Consumers also see Tesla’s cabin technology as a brand asset—embracing both human-machine interface and dynamic aspects such as autonomous driving.

However, admirable innovative technology is just one part of a vehicle proposition. Most European car buyers base their vehicle purchase decisions on a much wider range of criteria.

Perception is reality. There is much precedent for consumers’ perception and bias to be built up at distance, influencing consumer decisions about which brands succeed and fail to get into their consideration set. What consumers see on the street, their peer group’s opinions, marketing communication and other factors all play a part in determining consumers’ shopping list.

In our EVForward Europe study, we carried out a series of head-to-head evaluations where we invited car buyers to say whether Tesla or another specific brand had the advantage across a range of vehicle characteristics. We invited owners of premium vehicles to evaluate Tesla against brands such as Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz while asking mainstream car owners to compare brands such as Hyundai, Kia, Nissan and Peugeot.

Our results indicate that premium vehicle owners comparing Tesla against Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz consider two of these three premium brands to be significantly ahead of Tesla on all criteria tested. These owners consider Tesla’s biggest perceived weaknesses to be around interior and exterior styling. Although owners perceive Tesla to be better than one of the three premium brands when it comes to BEV charging speed and in-vehicle technology, they judge the other two premium brands to be superior on these two criteria—which are arguably in Tesla’s strongest territories.

On the other hand, mainstream vehicle owners perceive Tesla to be better for in-vehicle technology and BEV charging speed. However, these owners perceive Tesla’s biggest weakness to be price, followed by exterior and interior styling, albeit at a reduced level compared with the premium brand scenario.

Is Tesla Electrifying but Lacking Emotion?

Few would argue that Tesla does not deserve plaudits as the disruptive pioneer of BEVs—vehicles that shouted innovation and were backed up with an imaginative charging infrastructure that made the whole proposition look incredibly cohesive and enticing.

However, the challenge for a pioneer is to, at the very least, maintain its pace and hope other players do not catch up.

Although no brands—or collection of brands—have overtaken Tesla’s charging infrastructure, there is evidence others are making up ground in the electrification race and stretching the lead in the emotional arena with consumers.

While mainstream vehicle brand owners accept that Tesla has a slight advantage relative to cohort brands for BEV charging speed and in-vehicle technology, premium vehicle owners already perceive Tesla to be at parity for the former and inferior on the latter criterion. This provides a sense that rivals are at least breathing down Tesla’s neck.

If the minimalist-bordering-on-utilitarian styling of Tesla vehicles was always polarizing in the presence of more characterful vehicle options, much of the emotional promise of Tesla was dependent on it representing that distinctive badge of progressive thinking that owners could wear with pride. However, the plain and now plentiful on-road presence of Tesla risks diluting much of the emotional resonance of the brand.

The innovative energy that was Tesla of a few years ago is diminishing—and the brand needs a fast charge of brand energy in order to continue its competitive journey.

Many traditional car brands have or are close to catching up on vehicle electrification while also delivering on aspirational styling. As Chinese brands have joined the race with competitively priced, innovative products, the race for BEV sales is entering a fascinating phase!

If you would like to learn more about our 2025 EVForward Europe study of the evolving EV marketplace in Europe and car shoppers’ changing attitudes and sentiments, send us a note using the form below.

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About EVForward® Europe

The EVForward Europe study referenced within was conducted across five European countries: France (n=433), Italy (n=430), Germany (n=418), the United Kingdom (n=417) and Spain (n=401). It included a survey that was fielded in April and May 2025. The respondents were aged 18 to 80 with a primary vehicle model 2019 or newer and planning to purchase a new vehicle within the next five years. Data were weighted by age and gender to match the demographics of the new-vehicle buyer population and by vehicle segment to match current vehicle sales. The sample for this research comes from an opt-in, online panel. As such, any reported margins of error or significance tests are estimated and rely on the same statistical assumptions as data collected from a random probability sample. Escalent will supply the exact wording of any survey question upon request.