Electric vehicles are making significant inroads in South America, Reuters reports, but a major player remains markedly absent as this new market coalesces.
What's happening?
2025 has been a pivotal year for both EVs and the Tesla brand — back in May, the International Energy Agency projected that more than 20 million EVs would be sold by year's end, accounting for one in four cars purchased worldwide.
By that time, Tesla was already enduring what would become a period of volatile, slumping global sales.
In October, the nonpartisan National Bureau of Economic Research published a working paper that found that CEO Elon Musk's involvement in American politics had a quantifiable adverse impact, cutting Tesla's sales by more than 1 million cars in 2025.
Right as Tesla's fortunes were faltering, a string of affordably priced competitors — including China's BYD — began seizing global EV market share in earnest.
Reuters' article opened with an anecdote from "green energy entrepreneur Luis Zwiebach," who once trekked 4,000 miles to test-drive a Tesla. Zwiebach wanted to buy a Model 3, but at the time, importing one into Peru was nearly impossible.
After Zwiebach found a Tesla owner willing to sell, he had to improvise to charge it — but that was 2019. Today, Peruvian hybrid and EV sales are up 44% over 2024; according to Reuters, "Tesla still lacks a showroom" in Peru.
Luxury car dealer Gonzalo Elgorriaga told the outlet that Chinese EVs are in high demand. BYD in particular "now dominates sales," due in part to competitive pricing and specialized financing.
"The Chinese struck first and struck hard," Elgorriaga said of the EV market in South America.
Why is this important?
For better or worse, Tesla mainstreamed EVs, and the brand's ups and downs can ripple throughout the electric vehicle landscape.
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Absolutely 👍 As EV sales trends routinely indicate, Tesla's grip is weakening under the weight of public controversy and the rapid emergence of lower-priced competitors.
Tesla's ongoing failure to penetrate a major market like South America can be detrimental to consumer sentiment and EV sales, particularly given the automaker's outsized role in establishing critical global EV infrastructure, such as charging stations.
Even without a dealership presence, secondhand Teslas remain in demand, and market gaps aren't always visible on the buyer's or lessee's end, as was the case with Zwiebach's initially unchargeable EV.
Tesla's absence from this market could make South American drivers less confident in choosing an EV, slowing the clean energy transition and ultimately worsening emissions at scale.
What's being done about it?
Tesla declined to comment, according to Reuters.
Federico Guarino, a car dealer in Uruguay, hinted that Tesla's window of opportunity to gain a foothold could have closed.
"I can buy three Chinese pick-ups for the price of two traditional brands. That's a big difference," Guarino remarked.
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