BYD overtakes Tesla as China reshapes the global EV race
Chinese EV group BYD has taken the global battery-electric lead from Tesla after publishing 2025 delivery figures that put it ahead on an annual basis, underlining how quickly China’s supply chain, manufacturing scale and aggressive pricing are reordering the market.
How BYD overtakes Tesla
On reported 2025 totals, BYD delivered about 2.26 million battery-electric vehicles (BEVs), while Tesla delivered about 1.64 million, reversing the ranking that helped define the first decade of mass-market EVs (see Financial Times analysis and coverage here). That annual lead matters because it signals momentum with mainstream buyers: Tesla’s volumes have been pressured by intensifying competition and pricing pressure, while BYD has kept expanding its model range and driving down costs.
It’s also worth separating “BEVs” from total “new energy vehicle” volumes. BYD sells plug-in hybrids as well as BEVs, and its total 2025 passenger-vehicle tally (BEVs + plug-in hybrids) was reported at roughly 4.5 million units, giving it enormous scale advantages in batteries, power electronics and procurement.
China’s EV machine moves into Europe
The wider backdrop is that China is now exporting its EV playbook. BYD has been ramping overseas shipments, and the competitive pressure is showing up in Europe, where Chinese brands are fighting for share with feature-rich vehicles at lower price points. A notable marker last year was a Europe-specific milestone where BYD was reported to have edged Tesla in monthly BEV registrations, based on industry data (Reuters report).
At the same time, growth in China is no longer effortless. Domestic demand is highly price-sensitive and competitive, and BYD’s own growth rate has been described as cooling versus recent years (Reuters report). The result is a squeeze: strong volume, but relentless pressure on margins across the sector.
What it means for the supply chain
For engineers and suppliers, the shift is less about badges and more about where design wins and volume programmes will land. BYD’s vertical integration (notably in batteries) and willingness to bundle more driver-assistance and infotainment capability at lower price points raises the baseline for cost, integration density and power efficiency. European tier suppliers, semiconductor vendors and test houses may see more opportunity in platform localisation, compliance work and localisation of sub-systems—but also tougher negotiations as OEMs push cost-down targets harder.
For a Europe-focused view of how these kinds of volume shifts ripple through electronics markets, it’s the sort of story we track in our market news coverage.
Bottom line: BYD overtakes Tesla on annual BEV deliveries is a headline moment, but the deeper story is China’s maturing EV ecosystem exporting cost and feature pressure into every major market.
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