Tesla's European sales saw a decline in 2025, while BYD's momentum remains strong.

With the continuous growth in sales of Chinese automotive giant BYD, surpassing Elon Musk's electric car maker Tesla, Tesla ended the year with declining sales in the European market. According to data from the European Automobile Manufacturers Association, in December, Tesla's new car registrations in the EU, UK, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland plummeted by 20% year-on-year, to 35,280 vehicles. For the whole year, Tesla's sales shrank by 27% year-on-year, to only 238,656 vehicles. In contrast, ACEA data shows that Chinese BYD's new car registrations last month grew by more than double, reaching 27,678 vehicles; the annual registration increased to 187,657 vehicles. Although BYD's sales in Europe are still lower than Tesla's, the data above already reflects the diverging development trends of these two major electric car manufacturers. With a relatively affordable range of electric and hybrid vehicles, BYD has rapidly risen in continental Europe, posing fierce competition not only to traditional local car manufacturers like Volkswagen but also to overseas competitors like Tesla. At the same time, Tesla also has to deal with the aftermath of the controversies involving Musk's previous involvement with the Trump administration - which stepped down several months ago, negatively impacting consumer purchasing intentions. In 2025, Tesla's global sales fell by 9% year-on-year, with a further 16% decline in the fourth quarter. The company also had to hand over the title of the world's largest electric car manufacturer to Chinese car company BYD. Earlier this month, Musk announced that Tesla would stop selling its full suite of advanced driver-assistance features for a one-time payment after February 14th, replacing it with a monthly subscription service model.