BYD Proves Lead Over Tesla Won’t Stop
BYD has spent two years outmuscling Tesla across Europe while Tesla hemorrhages ground in China, raising a question investors can no longer ignore: what happens when a car company loses every market except its home turf?
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The EU is the world’s third-largest car market. Car makers sell about 13 million cars there a year, behind America’s 16 million and China’s 34 million. However, it has a distinction. It is the only large market in which all the world’s major car companies compete. The US blocks Chinese car sales. China’s highly successful car industry has effectively edged out foreign car companies. Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA | TSLA Price Prediction) has modest sales. VW and Toyota (NYSE: TM) sell via joint ventures with local companies.
Major US, Japanese, and South Korean companies all have significant EU sales. VW- and Stellantis-owned brands lead the market. The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association provides data for all EU sales.
BYD has dominated Tesla in the EU market for over two years. That dominance persisted in August and through the first eight months of the year, although Tesla’s sales growth has recovered from poor sales in 2025.
BYD’s sales from January through August were 177,752, up 163%. Tesla’s sales for the period were 142,165, up 65.9%. Last year, Electrek reported, “Tesla’s full 2025 data from Europe is in, and it is a total bloodbath.”
Tesla has been painted into a corner. It trails in China’s EV market. It trails rival BYD in Europe. In the US, it has regained market share and has over half of the market. However, overall US EV sales were down about 20% in the first half of the year.
Shaky global sales have more than offset Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s argument that his company is really a robotaxi, robotics, and AI company. Investors are looking at car sales, which remain its primary business by far. While many of the mega-tech stocks have recovered this year, largely because of their presence in the AI sector, Tesla’s stock is down 21%. The figure is down 33% from two months ago.
Tesla has mediocre sales across the world’s largest markets, but those sales are not enough to convince shareholders
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Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.
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