Tesla is no longer No. 1: This is how a Chinese competitor surged past the EV pioneer
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Tesla, the 23-year-old company that brought green cars into the mainstream, has been pushed off its perch as the world’s top electric vehicle seller.Chinese EV manufacturer BYD sold hundreds of thousands more cars last year, and it’s not just in China.
In most of the countries where the Chinese titan went head-to-head with Tesla — including Germany, Mexico, Thailand and Australia — Tesla lost market share at an unprecedented rate.The end of federal support for EVs has bitten into Tesla’s sales in the U.S., while backlash against Chief Executive Elon Musk’s political posturing has damaged his company’s reputation both at home and abroad.Globally, BYD is dominating with newer models, better batteries and lower sticker prices.
“Tesla didn’t just lose its sales crown, it squandered its position as a leader,” said Paul Blokland, co-founder of automotive data company Segment Y Automotive Intelligence.“As the U.S.
industry retreats behind a wall of tariffs and abandoned EV plans, Asia has taken the torch.” Business The Chinese automaker BYD sold 2.26 million electric vehicles in 2025, surpassing Tesla as the world’s top EV seller.In one of the most extreme examples of Tesla getting trumped, BYD vehicles swarmed roads in Europe last year.The Chinese company’s sales in the top 10 European markets quadrupled in 2025 compared with the previous year, according to calculations from Segment Y.
Tesla sales slumped 30% over the same period.As Tesla loses global market share, Musk has been trying to diversify Tesla away from its EV roots and rebrand it as more of an AI, robotics and robotaxi company.On Tesla’s earnings call last month, Musk announced he would end production of the Model S and Model X and use the freed-up factory space to produce Optimus humanoid robots.
He said he hopes to produce 1 million robots a year at the production plant in Fremont.“I...