"Unlike Elon Musk with his list of broken promises, the stats don't lie. Tesla has lost the title of the world's largest maker of EVs to Chinese automaker BYD. The signs have been there for a while, with BYD besting Tesla sales in Europe a number of times during 2025. Now it's official on a global basis. Despite being blocked from entering the US market, BYD's seemingly unstoppable rise continues as its EV sales rose last year by 28 percent to 2.25 million."
"In contrast, Tesla announced today it delivered 1.64 million vehicles in 2025 -its second annual decline in a row, and a 16 percent year-over-year decline for the fourth quarter. This is not merely the China brand edging ahead of Tesla in the electric vehicle race; it's a marked shift. Last week, BYD stated that in 2025 it sold 4.6 million "new energy vehicles" (which includes both full EVs and plugin hybrids) globally, with more than a million of these being exported cars."
"The news comes after a frankly disastrous year for Tesla that saw the high-selling Model Y, crucial for both Elon Musk and his car company, get a half-hearted refresh that bombed, failing to reverse sales woes. It was also a year that disclosed just how few people bought the much-berated Cybertruck; in March, yet another recall revealed the company had apparently sold less than 50,000 electric pickups since customer deliveries began 14 months previously. Musk had told investors Tesla would sell 250,000 Cybertrucks per year."
BYD surpassed Tesla as the world's largest maker of electric vehicles in 2025, driven by a 28% rise to 2.25 million EV sales and by selling 4.6 million new energy vehicles globally including over a million exports. Tesla delivered 1.64 million vehicles in 2025, marking its second consecutive annual decline and a 16% year-over-year drop in the fourth quarter. Model Y refresh failed to revive sales, Cybertruck volumes remained far below projections with under 50,000 sold, and Tesla faced recalls and faltering performance in U.S. and European markets.
Read at WIRED
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