China’s BYD overtook Tesla as the world’s largest electric carmaker in 2025, after the US company run by Elon Musk reported a slump in deliveries at the end of the year.
BYD sold 2.26m battery electric cars during the year, easily outstripping the 1.63m deliveries reported on Friday by Tesla for the same period.
The switch is a symbolic moment in the rise of China’s car companies, which have used the transition to electric cars to try to dominate the global automotive industry. Chinese car exports have risen in recent years, led by BYD and rivals such as the state-owned SAIC and Chery, which runs the Omoda and Jaecoo brands.
Electric car sales have continued to grow in the past two years, but the rate of growth has been slower than expected. Electric carmakers have been forced to cut prices aggressively, and governments around the world have rolled back targets on the shift away from petrol.
Tesla’s sales appear to have suffered in large part because of the withdrawal of electric vehicle (EV) subsidies by Donald Trump. The US president has also removed emissions regulations that incentivised electric car production. And Tesla also faced a backlash from some consumers after Musk’s embrace of far-right politics at the end of 2024.
Tesla’s sales last year were down by 9% compared with 2024. Photograph: Rafiq Maqbool/AP
Tesla’s deliveries slumped to 418,200 in the final quarter of the year, below the average forecasts of analysts. Sales for 2025 were down by 9% compared with 2024.
An average compiled by Bloomberg had suggested that Tesla would deliver 441,000 vehicles during the quarter, but Tesla took the unusual step before the new year of publishing its own consensus estimate for the first time, apparently in an effort to guide investors that sales were expected to be lower.
Tesla’s share price was down 1% on Friday, although they were down by 8% since Christmas Eve.
Trump’s anti-EV policies came despite Musk donating more money than anyone else to the victorious 2024 presidential election campaign and briefly running an effort to cut government costs. Musk at first seemed to win support for EVs from Trump – and even an awkward photoshoot in a Tesla in front of the White House – but they fell out dramatically in the summer.
It was the second consecutive decline in annual sales for Tesla. Yet even as sales have fallen it remains by far the world’s most valuable carmaker, with shares valued at $1.4tn – more than the next 30 carmakers combined. Investors appear to be betting that Musk will lead Tesla to be a leading force in robotics and artificial intelligence.
Musk has consistently claimed that autonomous capabilities will set Tesla apart from rivals, and it has started operating a limited robotaxi service in Austin, Texas. However, it will still face competition on that front. Several Chinese carmakers and tech companies already have comparable technology, including an offering from BYD called “God’s Eye” that is now included even on its cheapest cars.
BYD’s electric car sales rose by 28% during the year despite a weaker performance in December.
BYD was founded in 1995 as a battery company by Wang Chuanfu, who is often described as China’s equivalent to Musk. Its business already produced more cars overall than Tesla when counting hybrids.
The Shenzhen-headquartered manufacturer has overtaken Tesla during single quarters before. However, its battery electric production pulled away from its US rival in 2025, even as it faced intense competition from Chinese rivals.
BYD recorded 4.55m car sales overall during 2025, although its sales of plug-in hybrids fell by 8% year on year to 2.29m. That came despite an uptick in sales of plug-in hybrids, combining a smaller battery with a petrol or diesel engine, in some markets from consumers worried about their ability to charge. BYD also more than doubled its sales of commercial vehicles, including electric buses and lorries, to 57,000.
