How BYD just overtook Tesla to become the world’s most popular EV seller
How a Chinese automaker dethroned Elon Musk’s Tesla in EV sales race
- Chinese automaker BYD has surpassed Tesla to become the world's largest electric vehicle seller, marking Tesla's second consecutive year of sales decline.
- BYD sold 2.26 million vehicles in 2025, outselling Tesla by nearly 700,000, with BYD's sales rising 28% while Tesla's dropped 8% in the same period.
- BYD's success is largely attributed to technological breakthroughs, such as its Super E-Platform battery, which offers a 400-kilometre range from just five minutes of charging.
- Tesla's declining brand reputation is linked to Elon Musk's polarising political views and alignment with the Trump administration, which led to protests and a significant drop in public perception.
- Musk is attempting to pivot Tesla towards AI and robotics, focusing on the Optimus robot, a strategy that some robotics experts question as technologically and economically unfeasible for a general-purpose humanoid assistant.