🚀😎China's BYD Surpasses Tesla as the World's Largest EV Automaker
After Tesla's annual sales fell 9 percent, BYD can claim the crown, as the Chinese company sold 2 million EVs in 2025.
As Tesla announces sales that are down 9 percent over last year, a new EV king is crowned.BYD sold over 2 million battery-powered vehicles last year, making it the largest EV manufacturer globally.The U.K. is currently BYD's biggest market outside of China, and it's looking to expand.
Chinese automaker BYD finished 2025 strong, with total sales up by 7.7 percent to 4.6 million globally. The charge, pardon the pun, was in no small part due to a 28 percent increase in EV sales, with just under half of all cars sold by BYD being electrified. At the same time, Tesla has just announced deliveries that are down by 9 percent to 1.64 million vehicles worldwide. BYD can now claim the crown as the number-one EV automaker in the world.
In the United States, the last three months of Tesla sales have been affected by the elimination of federal EV subsidies. Lower-priced versions of the Model 3 and Model Y were introduced in the fall, but this didn't quite stanch the bleeding.There's also an inescapable political element. Tesla's brand has long relied on the persuasiveness of Elon Musk, whose promises have only grown bigger over time. From bulletproof stainless-steel trucks to armies of android servants and fleets of robotaxis, there is no limit to the ambition. But shortfalls—where's the new Tesla Roadster after eight years?—and Musk's foray into politics by aligning with the second Trump administration have soured many former Tesla buyers.
So, plenty of schadenfreude for longtime Musk critics to see Tesla knocked out of the top spot. However, the rise of Chinese automakers is certainly not something the North American, European, Japanese, or South Korean auto industry is happy about. BYD isn't just competition for Tesla, it's competition for everyone, and one needs only to look at the U.K. market to see the canary in the coal mine.