The Chinese New Energy Vehicle brand reported that it had sold 2.26 million battery electric vehicles (BEVs)—up nearly 28 percent from 2024. Meanwhile, the Elon Musk-led carmaker reported sales of 1.6 million, a decline of 8.6 percent. This marks Tesla’s second straight year of sales declines and its biggest annual drop in its history.

In the fourth quarter, Tesla’s sales came in at about 418,227, down 15.6 percent from a year earlier and an even sharper decline from global sales in the third quarter.

Despite its excellent full year 2025 performance, BYD also experienced its slowest sales growth in five years, due to fierce competition in its home market, China. With more than 50 EV makers, rivals such as Geely, Xiaomi, and Leapmotor have gradually eroded BYD’s domestic market share.

From a peak of 35 percent in 2023, BYD’s market share fell to 29 percent in the first 11 months of 2025, according to China Passenger Car Association. In the same period last year, its sales declined more than 5 percent, while Geely’s surged nearly 90 percent.

Together with relentless price wars in its home market, the Shenzhen-based company had to expand overseas especially in Latin America, South East Asia, and parts of Europe.

BYD said sales outside of China climbed to a record 1 million vehicles in 2025, up about 150 percent from 2024. The company has said it aimed to sell as many as 1.6 million vehicles outside China in 2026, though it has not disclosed an overall sales target.

However, its cheap price and fear of selling “zero-mileage cars” abroard has led to many countries now imposing steep tariffs on Chinese EVs.

And despite BYD surpassing Tesla when it comes to car sales, the Tesla has remained more profitable in recent quarters.