After years on top of the global electric vehicle market, Tesla has lost the title of the world’s leading EV brand to Chinese powerhouse BYD. After having narrowly surpassed Tesla in terms of electric vehicle production in 2024 already, BYD flew past Tesla in terms of sales last year, as the U.S. company led by Elon Musk suffered a second consecutive annual sales decline. While BYD's global electric car sales grew 28 percent to 2.26 million in 2025, Tesla's deliveries declined by almost 10 percent to 1.64 million, as the rollback of EV tax credits and Musk's divisive political activities hurt Tesla's sales. Europeans in particular fell out of love with the brand that was once seen as a symbol for progressiveness, with Tesla sales dropping almost 40 percent in the EU in the first 11 months of 2025. Meanwhile, BYD continued to make inroads into the European market, seeing its sales in the EU more than triple compared to 2024.
While few people outside of China had heard of BYD just a couple of years ago, the Shenzhen-based electronics and manufacturing giant rose to international fame in recent years, as its largest business unit/subsidiary BYD Auto became one of the largest makers of electric cars in the world and expanded beyond its home market. BYD successfully pivoted from internal combustion vehicles to what’s known as “new energy vehicles” in China, i.e. battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids. The company did so at breakneck speed, ramping up production of its electric passenger vehicles at a pace only seen from one company before: Tesla.
