Since Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA | TSLA Price Prediction) CEO Elon Musk is fabulously wealthy, we can assume that Tesla is a global electric vehicle (EV) juggernaut — right? Not so fast, as Musk’s moneymaker isn’t in first, second, or even third place among China’s best-selling new energy vehicle (NEV) manufacturers.
Since China is such an important NEV market, Tesla stock could decline in 2026 if there isn’t a major pickup in Tesla’s China sales. In light of the numbers I’ll reveal to you in a moment, it’s not looking great for Tesla in China.
Perhaps it’s time to expand our horizons. Right now, we’ll take a closer look at three China-based EV makers that aren’t as famous as Tesla in the U.S. As we’ll discover, they’re gaining market share while Tesla’s China problem only seems to be getting worse.
The Winner: It’s Not Tesla
If you live in the U.S., there’s a good chance that you’ve never owned an EV made by BYD Company Ltd. (OTC:BYDDY), which we’ll just call BYD. You may not even have heard of this company, but it’s famous in China and that’s bad news for Tesla.
Granted, BYD stock isn’t explosive like Tesla stock has been in the past. During the past five years, BYDDY stock is up 40%, which is respectable but nothing to write home about.
It’s a mistake to disregard BYD, however. There’s a strong sense of loyalty among consumers in China’s EV market, and BYD is firmly entrenched there while Tesla continues to struggle.
Here are some statistics that might shock you. While Tesla retains a dominant position among NEV manufacturers in America, the company only ranks fifth in China.
Number four on the list is a joint venture known as SAIC-GM-Wuling, which includes U.S. automaker General Motors (NYSE:GM). I’m not including SAIC-GM-Wuling on this top-three list, but it’s noteworthy that in China, a General Motors joint venture outranks Tesla.
Steering the conversation back to the number-one contender, BYD scored a 27.2% market share of China’s retail passenger NEV market in 2025. That year, BYD sold 3,484,525 units, easily beating Tesla’s 625,698 retail sales. This, along with the fact that Tesla only held a 6% market share, should be a cause for concern among TSLA stockholders.
Two More China EV Contenders
Before continuing, it’s also worth mentioning that Tesla’s 2025 China retail NEV sales declined 4.8% year over year. That’s another warning sign for Tesla shareholders as the competition heats up in China’s lucrative EV industry.
I’ve already revealed the first-place winner (BYD) as well as the EV makers that came in fourth place (SAIC-GM-Wuling) and fifth place (Tesla). So now, it’s time to fill in the rest of the list and uncover two more automakers that are stealing market share from Tesla in China.
Underneath BYD in second place is Geely Automobile Holdings Limited (OTC:GELYF), which we’ll just call Geely. Like BYDDY stock, GELYF stock is tradable in the U.S. though the daily liquidity/volume might be thin.
Geely earned its second-place spot by achieving a 12.2% China NEV market share — twice the size of Tesla’s market share. Furthermore, Geely sold 1,564,562 NEV units in China in 2025, up 81.3% year over year.
Next up is Changan Automobile, the shares of which may be difficult to find and trade in the U.S. It’s still an automaker to keep an eye on, though, as Changan secured a 6.2% China NEV market share last year; the company sold 789,141 units in 2025, up 26.8% compared to 2024’s sales.
Is Tesla Slipping?
All of this lends credence to the bearish claim that Tesla’s lock on the global EV market is slipping. That’s a bold claim to make, but China’s NEV market is vast and the numbers speak for themselves.
Plus, here’s another data point that might cause Tesla’s die-hard investors to reconsider their positions. Not long ago, Tesla lost its status as the world’s number-one EV seller. Can you guess who took the number-one spot?
You probably guessed BYD, and if so, then you’re 100% right. In 2025, Tesla’s global car sales declined nearly 9% year over year to 1.64 million units; that same year, BYD’s global unit sales grew by nearly 28% and surpassed 2.25 million.
There’s no denying that BYD’s dominance over Tesla in China was a contributing factor. BYD, Geely, Changan, and other China-based NEV manufacturers continue to put pressure on Tesla by selling affordably priced EVs in the 2020s.
None of this means you have to dump all of your TSLA stock shares today. Nonetheless, it’s worth your time to keep tabs on China’s EV market and the red-hot competition that Tesla will have to face there and throughout the world.
