Chinese automaker BYD overthrew the U.S. competitor Tesla as the largest global electric vehicle seller on a calendar-year basis on Friday.
The milestone marks a remarkable increase in BYD, a firm which Tesla CEO Elon Musk once scoffed at their products in a 2011 interview with Bloomberg.
In a statement issued on Thursday, BYD reported that the sales of the battery-powered cars had increased by almost 28 percent to 2.26 million units.
He said he did not see the company as a competitor to Tesla, adding, “I don’t think they have a great product.”
Meanwhile, Tesla announced Friday that it had shipped 1.64 million vehicles in the year 2025, which matches a company-estimated 1.6 million cars delivered. The annual estimation is roughly an 8 percent plunge from 2024, the company’s second straight annual drop.
Deliveries for Q4 2025 were approximately 16 percent fewer than those during the fourth quarter of 2024, when the EV company led by Musk announced 495,570 deliveries.
The closest method of approximating sales reported by Tesla is deliveries, which are not specifically defined in the shareholder communications of the company.
Tesla has been on a roller-coaster ride this year. In the first quarter of 2025, shares plummeted as the company faced intense rivalry, especially with Chinese EV makers, and reputational damage due to incendiary political rhetoric by Musk.
However, the stock price has been on a rampage in recent weeks, registering an all-time closing high of $489.88 last month, nearly half a year after the company launched a pilot program using safety drivers.
