The world has a new EV king. It’s not Tesla
By Chris Isidore, John Liu, CNN
(CNN) — In 2011, Tesla CEO Elon Musk dismissed Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD as a competitor. But some 14 years later, BYD beat the American EV pioneer at its own game.
The Chinese car giant has overtaken Tesla as the world’s largest seller of EVs, according to 2025 data released by the two rivals this week.
BYD announced Thursday that it had sold 2.26 million EVs, up nearly 28% from 2024. Meanwhile, Tesla reported Friday a second straight year of declining sales: Deliveries fell 8.6% to only 1.6 million, recording the biggest annual drop in the company’s history.
BYD was able to overtake Tesla even though its EVs are not available for purchase in America, while China is Tesla’s second-largest market.
In the fourth quarter, Tesla’s sales came in at about 418,000, down 15.6% from a year earlier and an even sharper decline from record global sales in the third quarter, when American motorists were rushing to buy EVs before a $7,500 tax credit expired on October 1.
Unlike other automakers, Tesla does not report its sales by market, providing only global figures, but the US market is responsible for nearly half its revenue, according to company reports. Reports by other automakers Monday are also likely to show weak US EV sales in the final three months of 2025.
Tesla’s deliveries had grown nearly 50% a year at one point. But it reported its first drop in annual sales in 2024, posting a modest 1% decline. Its sales fell sharply in the first six months of 2025 as it faced more competition from the EV offerings of other automakers, such a BYD and legacy global automakers, as well as backlash against Musk’s political activities, which angered many potential American and European buyers.
Early in the year, when Musk was leading the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, there were regular protests outside Tesla showrooms in Europe and the United States, and some reports of vandalism against Tesla cars and sites.
The rush to take advantage of the soon-to-expire tax credit helped sales in the third quarter. But it likely brought forward purchases by some buyers who might have bought Teslas later in the year.
To try to counter the loss of the tax credit, Tesla rolled out cheaper versions of its Model 3 and Model Y cars, but those versions, while costing about $5,000 less than their “premium” equivalents, also won’t travel as far on a full charge as the premium versions and lack some features.
Aggressive competition
BYD achieved the latest milestone while grappling with fierce competition and relentless price wars in its home market. The intense squeeze in China has prompted the Shenzhen-based company to expand further overseas, though its low-price strategy has drawn scrutiny and led to new tariffs in some markets.
Growth in BYD’s overall sales, including EVs and hybrids, slowed to its weakest pace in five years, with more than 4.6 million vehicles sold last year – underscoring the company’s struggles in China, the world’s largest automobile market and where BYD sells the bulk of its cars.
BYD also reported profit declines for both the second and third quarters of 2025.
While China’s auto market has become less crowded in the past few years, competition remains stiff with around 150 car brands and more than 50 EV makers, according to HSBC’s research. Rivals like Geely, China’s second-largest EV maker, fast-rising competitor Leapmotor and latecomer Xiaomi, which debuted its first EV only in 2024, have gradually eroded BYD’s domestic market share.
From a peak of 35% in 2023, BYD’s market share fell to 29% in the first 11 months of 2025, according to China Passenger Car Association. In the same period last year, its sales declined more than 5%, while Geely’s surged nearly 90%.
Wang Chuanfu, BYD’s founder and CEO, attributed the slowdown in domestic sales to erosion of BYD’s technological lead and insufficient product differentiation at a December investor meeting, according to state-run media. But he added that the company would soon unveil new technologies.
Shares of Tesla (TSLA) rose 1.2% in early trading Friday. Shares closed 2025 up 18.6% for the year, as investors looked past weak sales and focused on Musk’s plans for a fleet of robotaxis and an “army” of humanoid robots that he has promised to start building soon. But so far the rollout of Tesla’s robotaxi service has fallen well short of his promises, limited to two metropolitan areas, Austin, Texas, and San Francisco, rather than serving half of the US population as he had predicted it would by the year’s end.
The-CNN-Wire
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