Chinese electric-vehicle major BYD has met its full-year sales target for 2025 and has emerged as the world’s largest EV maker, overtaking US rival Tesla, which its billionaire founder Elon Musk had once dismissed as a serious competitor.

The Shenzhen-based car maker delivered 4.6 million vehicles in 2025, marking a 7.7 per cent increase over the previous year. The performance was in line with a revised full-year target announced in September. BYD sold almost equal numbers of fully electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids during the year, with pure EV sales touching 2.26 million units.

While competition in its home market has intensified, particularly from rivals such as Geely Automobile Holdings and smartphone-to-car entrant Xiaomi, BYD has benefited from robust overseas demand. International deliveries climbed to 1.05 million units in 2025, surpassing the upper end of the company’s guidance and helping offset softer demand in China.

Tesla, by contrast, reported deliveries of 1.63 million units in 2025, down 8.55 per cent from the previous year, with its Model 3 and Model Y driving the majority of sales.

The US car maker’s performance was weighed down by production disruptions as it retooled assembly lines for the updated Model Y. In addition, Elon Musk’s polarising political role and the withdrawal of federal EV purchase subsidies in the US have dampened demand.

In 2024, Tesla had narrowly edged past BYD with 1.78 million deliveries against BYD’s pure EV sales of 1.76 million.

The strong delivery numbers lifted investor sentiment, with BYD’s Hong Kong-listed shares rising 3.57 per cent on Friday. The rally came despite expectations of a tougher operating environment ahead, as China begins to roll back incentives that have supported electric-vehicle purchases. As of December 31, Tesla’s shares were down 1.04 per cent on the Nasdaq.

In 2011, a confident Musk had chuckled dismissively when asked about BYD as a competitor in the EV space in a Bloomberg interview. “Have you seen their car?” he had scoffed, while doubting both the quality and technological prowess of the Chinese auto maker.

Price rise

BYD on Friday announced a price increase for its premium electric SUV, the Sealion 7, in the Indian market. The company said it has raised the price of the premium variant by ₹50,000, effective January 1, 2026, citing evolving cost dynamics.

The model will now be priced at ₹49.4 lakh (ex-showroom), while the performance variant will continue to be sold at ₹54.9 lakh. BYD said the Sealion 7 has sold over 2,300 units in India since launch.

Tesla, which has also forayed into the Indian market, offers its Model Y at a price range of ₹59.89-67.89 lakh.