China's BYD Overtakes Tesla in European EV Sales

On Thursday, Reuters reported that the Chinese automaker BYD surpassed Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) in EV sales in Europe for the first time, according to a report by JATO Dynamics.

In April, BYD registered 7,231 BEVs in Europe, while Tesla registered 7,165 units. This marks a shift in the European car market, as Tesla had previously led the European BEV market for years, and BYD only officially expanded its operations beyond Norway and the Netherlands in late 2022.

Despite the EU's imposition of tariffs on Chinese-made EVs, registrations of such cars increased by 59% in April from a year earlier and reached almost 15,300 units. In comparison, carmakers from Europe, Japan, South Korea, and the US saw a 26% growth in EV registrations during the same period. In April 2025, BEVs and PHEVs combined accounted for 26% of new car registrations in Europe, which was a new record. Chinese brands' PHEV volumes increased by a 546% year-on-year, from 1,493 units in April 2024 to 9,649 units in April 2025. This represents almost 10% of the total PHEVs registered in Europe.

Tesla's declining sales in Europe are attributed to factors like an aging model lineup, production halts for retooling factories for the redesigned Model Y crossover, and CEO Elon Musk's political views. Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) reported its first drop in annual deliveries last year, and analysts anticipate another fall in 2025 after a 13% decline in Q1. Conversely, BYD's success is driven by its broad and competitive lineup of fully electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids, which led to a 359% increase in overall EV sales in April compared to the previous year.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.