China’s BYD has overtaken Tesla as the world’s bestselling EV carmaker after sales dropped at the American EV giant for the second year running.

Newly published figures from Tesla show deliveries of 1.64 million vehicles in 2025 compared to 1.79 million a year earlier.

Meanwhile, Chinese rival saw sales of its battery-powered cars rise almost 28% to more than 2.25 million; up from 1.75 million in 2024. BYD’s total vehicle sales, including plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), reached 4.6 million units in 2025.

Sales at Tesla were hit by increasing competition, along with the expiry of US tax credits and a backlash among consumers to CEO Elon Musk’s right-wing politics.

Musk is pivoting Tesla as an ‘AI and robotics’ company with a focus on robotaxi services and humanoid robots for homes and offices. The Tesla Robotaxi ride-hailing service launched in a limited capacity in Austin, Texas, in June 2025 and the company says it’s now testing driverless vehicles in the city without the supervision of a human “safety monitor”.

Chinese firms such as BYD also continue to put pressure on Western EV makers.

In October, BYD announced that the UK had become its largest international market outside of China for the first time.

The brand celebrated the end of 2025 by opening its 125th UK retailer; up from 52 dealers in just 12 months.

BYD has also appointed its first head of fleet sales for the UK market alongside its first head of remarketing, supporting a greater focus on both areas. Claudio de Freitas has been promoted to the position of fleet sales chief from his previous role as national contract hire & leasing manager, while Malcolm Fryer, who joined BYD in 2023 following a stint at Ineos Automotive, now becomes the UK’s head of remarketing.

BYD said the dedicated resources were due to the company’s significant success in both fleet sales and the growing importance of remarketing for the brand, allowing greater focus on each side of the business.

Currently, BYD sells six electric models in the UK: the Dolphin Surf (fully electric city car), Atto 2 (fully electric B-segment SUV), Dolphin (fully electric C-segment hatchback), Atto 3 (fully electric C-segment SUV), Sealion 7 (fully electric C-segment SUV) and the Seal (fully electric D-segment saloon).

Its plug-in hybrid line-up includes the Seal U (D-segment SUV) and the Seal 6 Saloon and Touring PHEVs, while the Atto 2 DM-i plug-in hybrid version of the Atto 2 arrives this quarter.

The brand also officially launched its Denza sub-brand in Europe last year. Originally founded as a BYD-Daimler joint venture but fully BYD-owned as of 2024, the brand debuts first with the B5 off-roader SUV this year.

BYD also plans to launch its Yangwang luxury sub-brand in 2027 to take on Porsche and Audi. Yangwang recently smashed the global production car speed record after clocking 308.4mph (496.22km/h) in the U9 Xtreme hypercar at the ATP Automotive Testing Papenburg test track in Germany.