China’s BYD has overtaken Tesla to become the world’s largest seller of electric vehicles.
Earlier this week, Tesla took the unusual step of releasing sales guidance ahead of its official results, a move widely seen as an attempt to manage investor expectations.
Tesla shareholders are increasingly focused on whether chief executive Elon Musk, whose personal fortune is estimated at $623bn, can reposition the company as a leader in self-driving technology, robotics and artificial intelligence, beyond its core car business.
BYD reported electric-vehicle deliveries of around 2.25 million units in 2025, marking year-on-year growth of roughly 28%.
By comparison, Tesla’s full-year EV deliveries are estimated at about 1.65 million vehicles, an annual decline of around 8%.
While the two manufacturers have traded places at the top on a quarterly basis in recent years — including in late 2023 — 2025 marks the first time BYD has overtaken Tesla on an annual basis.
The shift highlights diverging trajectories over the past year. BYD’s growth was underpinned by strong demand in China, the world’s largest EV market, alongside expanding sales in Europe, Southeast Asia and Latin America. Its vertically integrated supply chain, including in-house battery production, has allowed the company to price competitively across a broad model range. Including plug-in hybrids, BYD’s total “new energy vehicle” deliveries reached roughly 4.6 million units in 2025.
Tesla faced a tougher operating environment. Production pauses linked to updates to the Model Y weighed on deliveries earlier in the year, while the expiry of the $7,500 US federal EV tax credit dampened demand in North America. At the same time, the company has been devoting increasing resources to longer-term initiatives such as autonomous driving, robotaxi platforms and humanoid robotics, alongside its core electric-vehicle business.
