BYD sales continue to rise strongly year over year, while Tesla sales continue to stagnate at best and droop significantly at worst. Whereas the race between these electric vehicle leaders was tight for years, and Tesla led for years, the Chinese EV producer looks like it’s leaving Tesla in the dust.
Back when BYD’s overall plugin vehicle sales surpassed Tesla’s vehicle sales, it was quite common for Tesla fans/shareholders to point out that BYD also sold plugin hybrids, not just full electric vehicles. And, yes, I’ll compare BYD’s overall plugin vehicle sales to Tesla’s EV sales here. However, over time, BYD’s BEV sales rose … and rose … and rose … while Tesla’s did not. So, now, it’s not just BYD’s plugin vehicle sales that have soared above Tesla’s — BYD’s BEV sales have also now soared well above Tesla’s.
Alright, let’s start with the plugin vehicle sales.
I don’t know which of those charts look worse for Tesla, but it’s clear that the two automakers are now on very different levels. Despite how big Tesla looks in the minds of superfans, it is now selling about ⅓ of the vehicles per quarter as BYD. BYD sold 1,127,173 plugin vehicles in the second quarter of 2025, while Tesla sold 384,122. Tesla sold about 700,000 vehicles in the first half of 2025, while BYD sold more than 2 million.
Also, yet again, BYD’s rise in sales quarter over quarter was notable bigger than Tesla’s. Year over year, BYD’s plugin vehicle sales were up a bit, while Tesla’s sales were down.
Moving on to full electric vehicles (BEVs)…
Oy — while the overall difference in volumes is not as stark here, what is especially sharp is seeing BYD’s steep rise in BEV sales compared to Tesla’s drooping sales. One company looks like it’s going in the right direction, while the other company looks like it’s going in the wrong direction.
We’ll see where things go in the rest of the year.
In the meantime, below are interactive versions of the charts and graphs above (best viewed on a computer).
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