There is talk that Tesla stock is not doing well. Is that really the case? Let's see. Stellantis has fallen by 40.49% since the beginning of the year, BMW has fallen by 23.28% since the beginning of the year, Volkswagen by 16.75%, Tesla is only 8%, and as you know, it actually collapsed last week. Mercedes has also lost around 7% of its value. So what is happening to these European players? Why are they falling apart? And don't forget that Tesla is already an expensive stock, these are always cheap stocks. Why are they losing value? What is happening? Because their sales are collapsing. New data from China shows that Mercedes and BMW have completely collapsed in China. Volkswagen has started laying off workers in Europe. There is no need to even mention Stellantis. Its CEO is running around, crying. He says the European state should help us. Their situation is really dire and although Europe has imposed many embargoes on China, the only place in the world where electric car sales are declining is Europe right now. The reason for this is that European countries are trying to protect their own sluggish manufacturers.
So what do the numbers say? Let's take a look at Reuters' article on October 10. When we look at the third quarter, BMW's global sales have decreased by 13% compared to last year. The development in Mercedes is a little less, but I also know the details of Mercedes. There is actually success in Vito there as well. Both have decreased sales in China. Mercedes' global sales have also decreased on the electric car side. There is a slight increase in BMW, but when we look at it, there is not enough increase to compensate for the loss in fossil fuel vehicles. BMW's sales have decreased by 13% and Mercedes' by 3% globally in the June-September quarter. But when it comes to China, things are a little more opposite. BMW has lost one third of its sales in China. Mercedes' decline is around 10%.
When we look at Mercedes' global sales decrease in electric vehicles is around 31%. Because their cars are not good. I always claim that these are extremely inefficient vehicles and they are both bad at electrification and the digital features of the vehicles are very weak. When you say digital features, don't think of entertainment systems. These vehicles still can't receive updates, like a mobile phone. Because their vehicles are not designed from the ground up like computers like the Chinese vehicles or Teslas. Since they haven't been able to make that transformation, their vehicles are far behind the digital world. Frankly, I don't think they will recover. Because they don't have the money, determination or productivity to recover. It is really very difficult to deal with the Chinese. I think most of these companies will sell their brands. I think Volkswagen will continue to lay off workers. Layoffs will soon start in Mercedes and BMW.
They will probably go and try collaborations with the Chinese. They will try collaborations similar to what Volkswagen did with Rivian. It is impossible for these to get anywhere. That train has left. When Tesla started this great revolution, it ran away because they turned their noses up at it. Remember, Mercedes was a partner of Tesla for a while and then sold its shares. Similar things will happen to the Japanese. It is already coming, Toyota, Mitsubishi, Nissan's China sales are already finished and believe me, if you lose China, it will be very difficult for you to survive in the world automobile market. Because it is one of the largest markets in the world. The Chinese always find new ways to sell their excess production to Europe and America. Electric vehicles will definitely win, the way things are going. The main reason is that electric cars are becoming cheaper.
The biggest cost element in electric vehicles is batteries. The cost of batteries is decreasing rapidly. By 2030, the cost of a battery that stores 1 kWh of electricity will drop to around $60. In that case, fossil fuels will have no chance of competing. On the other hand, thanks to the transformations in both battery technology and the charging industry, the life of batteries is getting longer, their ranges are getting longer and their charging times are getting shorter. If you exclude Mini Cooper in the last quarter, Tesla and BMW's global sales have become the same. If the current trends continue in the next quarter, Tesla will surpass BMW. Because Tesla's September sales increased by 66% in China compared to the same period last year. When we look at it globally, sales in the third quarter increased by 6% compared to the same quarter last year. So yes, Tesla has problems too. There are problems in the entire automotive sector, but Tesla and the Chinese will get through this, good luck with the rest. I am very clear on this.
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