All good things must come to an end, or should we say ‘Musk’ come to an end, in the case of Tesla. The former global EV sales leader has surrendered its crown to BYD, with the latter selling over 2 million battery-powered vehicles in 2025 to become the new global EV sales leader. Tesla announced
Tesla announced a nine percent drop in deliveries for the year that was partly due to the elimination of federal EV subsidies in the form of USD7,500 federal tax credits in the United States over the last three months. The carmaker sold 1.64 million units worldwide. Even the launch of more pared down ‘Standard’ variants of the Model 3 and Model Y were futile in reversing the drop.
On the other hand, BYD’s charge to the top came with total vehicle sales rising 7.7 percent to 4.6 million units and just under half of that figure comprising EVs. That effectively cements its spot as the new EV kingpin.
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Motorists, and the public in general, have long had a ‘love it or hate it’ relationship with Tesla due to Elon Musk’s controversial political alignments, surprising nobody that the latter are rejoicing at the carmaker’s toppling.
Nonetheless, not everyone is spraying champagne at BYD’s surge to the top, especially the major automotive nations. BYD is proving to be ridiculously fierce competition, with sales in the UK market up by a whopping 880 percent.
BYD is not sitting around resting on its laurels as well, with several facelifts in the pipeline. The only immediate competition appears to be from fellow countrymen in the form of the Geely group or Xiaomi.