- Relative automotive newcomer to the UK, BYD, which only debuted its electric passenger cars back in 2023, has now overtaken Tesla in the country’s monthly sales charts.
- According to the latest sales statistics from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, covering the month of January, BYD sold 1,614 cars in the period – compared to 1,458 for Tesla.
- A drop in Tesla EV sales has also been noted across multiple European territories, with Reuters reporting a 63% drop in Tesla sales in France, for the month of January.
Tesla sales drop across multiple European territories – a consumer response?
There is, however, one caveat to BYD’s outperformance of Tesla in the UK. Tesla’s sales remain fully-electric, while BYD sales include a mix of both fully-electric and plug-in hybrid models, allowing the Chinese automaker to reach a larger cohort of customers. Broken down to BEV only, BYD sold 1,047 units in the month, compared to Tesla’s 1,416. Even so, BYD only entered the country in 2023 compared to Tesla’s 2014 – and that aforementioned sales gap has been closing over the past few months.
It’s not just the ongoing rise in BYD sales that has caused this milestone. Earlier this week, we reported that Tesla lost UK EV market share in January 2025 compared to January 2024 – from 8% to 5%, to be precise, falling behind the BEV market share of manufacturers such as Audi, Kia, and Peugeot. It’s not just France and the UK that saw Tesla sales drop in January either, with countries such as Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands also recording Tesla sales decreases – even whilst the EV market as a whole remains strong.
As was already touched upon by our guest editor Ben MacDonald last month, the link between Tesla and Elon Musk has become an issue for some EV buyers – particularly those in Europe. A recent UK survey carried out by Electrifying.com found that 59% of EV owners and prospective owners surveyed said Musk’s influence on the brand made a Tesla purchase a ‘dealbreaker’ for them. The January figures seen across both the UK and mainland Europe certainly hint at such a reaction, though it could be argued that the reveal of the Model Y facelift, which was heavily rumoured in the months before, may have put buyers off purchasing a Model Y in anticipation of the facelifted model. Tesla sales figures out of Europe over the next couple of months will be one to watch closely – to prove whether this issue has truly translated to a change in buyer choice.
