- Chinese EV maker BYD has achieved another milestone against Tesla, with its global sales of fully-electric cars exceeding that of Tesla in the first three months of 2025.
- Focusing solely on fully-electric BEV models (and not hybrid units that BYD also sell), the Chinese manufacturer sold over 416,000 such units globally in the first quarter of 2025. That compares to 336,000 global Tesla EV deliveries within the same period.
- The achievement comes just days after it was revealed that BYD’s 2024 sales revenue stood at $107 billion, beating Tesla’s annual revenue of $97.7 billion.
BYDs fully-electric car sales overtake Tesla in the global charts
The 416,388 fully-electric passenger cars sold globally in the first quarter of the year mark a 39% rise over the same period last year, where global sales of BYD BEVs stood at 300,114. If you also include BYD’s plug-in hybrid models, total passenger car sales for Q1 of 2025 stood at just under one million globally. In the same period, Tesla’s global deliveries dropped 13% year-on-year for Q1, now standing at 336,000.
This Tesla-beating sales figure is just part of BYD’s move towards its goal of widening its market share outside of China, as it aims for 50% of BYD sales to come from overseas by 2030. It recently announced its ‘Super e-Platform’ EV architecture, which will be capable of receiving charge speeds up to 1,000kW, making the recharging time comparable to that of filling up a combustion engined-car.
Tesla sales across Europe back in January dropped significantly over the previous year, though sales haven’t fallen quite as drastically in the months following. Some argued that this drop in sales was down to Tesla’s imminent Model Y facelift, but as time goes on, the widely-touted theory that Musk’s foray into politics has caused serious damage to Tesla’s perception within Europe is looking stronger. Tesla’s March sales figures, released just this week, showed sales continuing to fall in many countries – with France, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Sweden seeing a drop in Tesla sales for the third month in a row. This reduced popularity creates a significant opportunity not just for newcomers like BYD, but also established automakers which are also pivoting strongly towards EVs – which means BYD still faces significant opposition.
Tesla’s sales figures don’t yet show the impact of Trump’s recent plan to impose 25% tariffs against all foreign made cars and car parts coming into the U.S. While this policy has the potential to benefit Tesla sales in the U.S., with the manufacturer having high levels of U.S. production already established, it is also likely to negative impact European automakers – which, in turn, could create further resentment in Europe towards a brand that is so closely aligned with both its CEO, Elon Musk, and President Donald Trump. April sales figures for both EV giants, which should come out in early May, will be one to watch.
