- China’s BYD is believed to have officially surpassed Tesla in annual global EV sales for the first time ever.
- BYD had previously outsold Tesla on a quarterly basis, but in all of 2025, the Chinese automaker outsold it by more than 600,000 cars.
- BYD is rapidly making inroads into other markets, including Europe and Latin America—and with local production.
The world has a new king of electric-vehicle sales.
On Friday, preliminary sales data reveal that Chinese juggernaut BYD sold more EVs than Tesla in 2025, the first time in well over a decade that any competing automaker has outpaced Elon Musk’s company.
According to Tesla’s latest figures, the company sold 1.64 million EVs worldwide in 2025, down 9% from the 1.79 million EVs it shipped in 2024. But BYD edged ahead by more than 600,000 cars, closing 2025 with 2.26 million EVs sold.
Previously, BYD has outpaced Tesla in global car sales because it also makes plug-in hybrids and Tesla does not. But 2025’s sales result is the first time—at least since the days of the original Nissan Leaf—that Tesla has been overtaken in purely electric sales.
This is a breaking news post. It will be updated shortly.
Contact the author: patrick.george@Ev Authority.com
