China's BYD surpassed Tesla to become the world's largest electric vehicle seller for the first time in 2025, with battery-powered car sales rising nearly 28 percent to 2.26 million units compared to Tesla's 1.64 million deliveries, which fell approximately 9 percent year-over-year.
BYD achieved this milestone despite its vehicles not being available in the United States market, while China remains Tesla's second-largest market, with BYD's overseas sales surpassing 1 million units for the first time—a 150 percent increase driven by expansion in Europe, Latin America, Türkiye, Hungary, and Japan.
The reversal marks an extraordinary rise for BYD, a company Tesla CEO Elon Musk dismissed in a 2011 Bloomberg interview by laughing and stating he did not view them as competitors, adding "I don't think they have a great product".
Tesla experienced its second consecutive annual sales decline amid political controversies surrounding Musk's work with the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency, which sparked widespread protests outside showrooms in Europe and the United States, coupled with the expiration of the $7,500 federal EV tax credit in September.
While BYD sold 4.55 million total vehicles including plug-in hybrids in 2025, analysts note the company faces intensifying domestic competition from rivals like Geely and Xiaomi, with BYD's China market share declining from 35 percent in 2023 to 29 percent in 2025.
