Imagine losing to VW in the EV game after a 10+ year headstart. Humiliating.
this post was submitted on 05 Feb 2026
168 points (99.4% liked)
World News
53925 readers
2720 users here now
A community for discussing events around the World
Rules:
-
Rule 1: posts have the following requirements:
- Post news articles only
- Video links are NOT articles and will be removed.
- Title must match the article headline
- Not United States Internal News
- Recent (Past 30 Days)
- Screenshots/links to other social media sites (Twitter/X/Facebook/Youtube/reddit, etc.) are explicitly forbidden, as are link shorteners.
-
Rule 2: Do not copy the entire article into your post. The key points in 1-2 paragraphs is allowed (even encouraged!), but large segments of articles posted in the body will result in the post being removed. If you have to stop and think "Is this fair use?", it probably isn't. Archive links, especially the ones created on link submission, are absolutely allowed but those that avoid paywalls are not.
-
Rule 3: Opinions articles, or Articles based on misinformation/propaganda may be removed.
-
Rule 4: Posts or comments that are homophobic, transphobic, racist, sexist, anti-religious, or ableist will be removed. “Ironic” prejudice is just prejudiced.
-
Posts and comments must abide by the lemmy.world terms of service UPDATED AS OF OCTOBER 19 2025
-
Rule 5: Keep it civil. It's OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It's NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
-
Rule 6: Memes, spam, other low effort posting, reposts, misinformation, advocating violence, off-topic, trolling, offensive, regarding the moderators or meta in content may be removed at any time.
-
Rule 7: We didn't USED to need a rule about how many posts one could make in a day, then someone posted NINETEEN articles in a single day. Not comments, FULL ARTICLES. If you're posting more than say, 10 or so, consider going outside and touching grass. We reserve the right to limit over-posting so a single user does not dominate the front page.
We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.
All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.
Lemmy World Partners
News !news@lemmy.world
Politics !politics@lemmy.world
World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world
Recommendations
For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/
- Consider including the article’s mediabiasfactcheck.com/ link
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
The only thing Tesla ever had going for it was that big screen, which ended up triggering a horrible era of buttonless cars. I’ll be happy when they die.
Don’t forget that Tesla also provides cremation services for the whole family.
Isn’t it like an 8 hour cremation service that can still burn in the rain?
Honestly, that sounds like a very reliable service.
By far the most reliable part of Tesla technology. Remember that they’re a technology brand and not a car company. Because they sell lots of things that are not cars. Cars, carbon credits, cremation services, red flags.
Imo they also has their charging network, which was a differentiating feature. But imo it was clear that eventually it was something that becomes less important the wider general adoption progresses.
Not sure, but I think they also were early or at least better than legacy car makers with over the air software updates.
But nowadays I don't see any standout thing that sets them apart. Tesla got the early lead due others imo facing the inventors dilemma, but they didn't progress further and now others caught up.
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/
The real question is who those 236,357 cars were sold to. Which European buys a car from a guy who did a Hitler salute live on stage, twice?
I suppose people who are fascists or don't give a shit or are extremely ignorant.
Saddest part is that WV group is struggling, closing factories and doing layoffs. All the while Elon swimming around In new investments every day.
Isn’t most of the investments just from his other businesses though?
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.
Well, they are now owned by a chinese company. Stilm produce in sweden though and are great for safety and ecology.
Can't wait for the whole Musk fata morgana to crater, couldn't happen to a nicer guy...