Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer BYD is set to become the world's largest electric car seller, overtaking Elon Musk's Tesla for the first time in annual sales.
On Thursday, BYD revealed that its battery electric vehicle sales last year rose nearly 28% to over 2.25 million units, suggesting it will surpass Tesla, which is scheduled to announce its official 2025 sales figures on Friday. Analysts previously estimated Tesla's annual sales at about 1.65 million vehicles.
Reports indicate Tesla faced a challenging year due to several factors, including mixed reactions to its new models, investor concerns over Elon Musk's political involvement, and intensified competition from Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers.
In October, Tesla launched two lower-priced versions of its best-selling models in the U.S. to boost sales, following criticism that it was slow to introduce more affordable products.
Meanwhile, Musk is under pressure from a historic compensation agreement potentially worth up to $1 trillion if Tesla meets sales and stock value targets over the next decade, including the goals of selling at least 1 million humanoid robots and developing a Robotaxi self-driving car program.
Tesla's sales also slowed in the first quarter of 2025 amid backlash over Musk's role in President Donald Trump's administration, which led some investors to question his commitment to managing Tesla before he announced a reduced political role.
Although BYD has grown rapidly in recent years, its sales growth in 2025 slowed to the lowest rate in five years amid fierce competition in China from new electric vehicle makers like XPeng and Nio.
Nonetheless, BYD maintains its global market leadership through a pricing strategy typically below competitors and continuous expansion in overseas markets, especially Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Europe, despite high tariffs imposed by some countries on Chinese electric vehicles.
The company stated that in October, the UK became BYD's largest market outside China, with sales in Britain soaring 880% over the year ending September, driven by the popularity of the plug-in hybrid Seal U SUV.
. Source:BBC
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