While Tesla continued its decline for two consecutive years, Chinese manufacturer BYD increased its electric car sales by 28% in the same period, thus dethroning Tesla.
Chinese automotive giant BYD sold 2,256,714 fully electric vehicles in 2025. This represents a 28% year-on-year increase. More importantly, this marks the first time BYD has surpassed Tesla in electric vehicle sales.
Tesla continues to face a challenging period. The US manufacturer experienced a decline in many markets during the first half of the year, and although it gained some upward momentum in the second half, its overall performance remained weak. The company delivered 1.22 million electric vehicles in the first three quarters of the year. With 418,227 deliveries in the last quarter, total deliveries for the year reached 1.64 million.
Became Leader by a Significant Margin
In fact, this situation is not entirely surprising, as BYD had already taken the lead for one quarter in 2024 and finished that year slightly behind Tesla. In 2025, Tesla's second consecutive annual decline combined with BYD's strong performance resulted in a difference of over half a million units.
While BYD's sales of new energy vehicles (electric + PHEV) continued to rise, the growth rate slowed down. The Chinese company sold a total of 4.6 million new energy vehicles. This signifies a 7.7% growth compared to 2024. BYD had recorded a high growth of 41% from 2023 to 2024. Although this increase remained in single digits in 2025, it was enough for BYD to surpass Tesla.
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