Tesla overtaken by China's BYD as sales plummet in 2025

Tesla deliveries fell 15.6% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2025 following the end of electric vehicle subsidies in the United States, the US automaker owned by Elon Musk said on Friday.

The electric car pioneer said it had delivered 418,227 vehicles to customers worldwide in the last quarter.

The figures mean Tesla recorded its second consecutive annual decline in deliveries, which fell 8.5% for the whole of 2025 to just over 1.636 million vehicles.

They also mean Tesla has lost out to Chinese rival BYD, which became the world's bestselling electric vehicle maker in 2025.

Last year, BYD sold some 4.6 million vehicles, 8% more than in the previous year. These included some 2.3 million battery-electric vehicles, which marked an increase of 28% year-on-year, according to the carmaker.

Tesla reached its peak in 2023, delivering over 1.8 million vehicles.

The expiry at the end of September of a US $7,500 tax credit for the purchase of electric vehicles is likely to have played a role in the quarterly decline seen at the company. In the third quarter of 2025, Tesla deliveries jumped 7.4% to 497,099 as many prospective US buyers rushed to take advantage of the incentive while they still could.

Tesla boss Musk has sought to downplay the significance of dwindling car sales, saying the company's future lies in autonomous driving and humanoid robots.

However, Tesla, which currently only operates a few dozen self-driving robotaxis in Austin, most of which have a human supervisor on board, faces stiff competition in both sectors.

Google's sister company Waymo is the leader in autonomous driving, operating more than 2,500 driverless vehicles across various US cities.

Meanwhile, a number of Chinese firms as well as US companies like Agility Robotics and Figure AI have long been working on the development of humanoid robots to be deployed in industry.

The actions of tech titan Musk are also believed to have contributed to Tesla's waning popularity.

Until the end of May, Musk led the Department of Energy Efficiency or DOGE, the cost-cutting programme set up by US President Donald Trump, through which he implemented significant cuts and job reductions at government agencies - resulting in a major backlash against the Tesla boss.

Their relationship later soured following a partly public dispute over Trump's plans to let the EV subsidy expire. Musk claimed Trump would not have reached the White House without his support and linked the president to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Musk later acknowledged that some of his remarks had gone too far.

Meanwhile, US consumers increasingly opted for conventional petrol and diesel-powered cars as well as hybrid models last year, while rival carmakers dampened Tesla sales in Europe.