Chinese automaker BYD overtook Tesla in 2025 to become the world’s biggest seller of battery-electric vehicles, filings released Thursday and Friday show.

BYD reported 2,256,714 battery-electric vehicle sales for the year, while Tesla said it delivered 1,636,129 vehicles in 2025, putting the U.S. brand well behind its Chinese rival in the pure-EV race. (RELATED: Top Chinese EV Maker Posts Massive Profits Amid Quest To Sneak Into US Market)

“In the fourth quarter, we produced over 434,000 vehicles, delivered over 418,000 vehicles and deployed 14.2 GWh of energy storage products,” Tesla said in its release.

Q4 2025

Production: 434,358
Deliveries: 418,227
Energy storage deployments: 14.2 GWh

Thank you to all of our customers, employees, suppliers, shareholders & supporters who helped us achieve these results!

Full year 2025

Production: 1,654,667
Deliveries: 1,636,129
Energy…

— Tesla (@Tesla) January 2, 2026

Tesla’s 2025 deliveries fell about 8.6% from its 2024 total of 1,789,226, according to the company’s own delivery reports. In the fourth quarter alone, Tesla reported 418,227 deliveries, down from 495,570 a year earlier.

BYD’s disclosure to Hong Kong’s exchange showed it sold 4,602,436 “new energy vehicles” in 2025 when plug-in hybrids are included, led by 2,288,709 plug-in hybrid sales alongside its 2.256 million battery-electrics. The company said its December 2025 exports hit 133,172 new energy vehicles and it installed about 285.634 GWh of power and energy-storage batteries in 2025, while warning the monthly and year-to-date figures are unaudited and could change. (RELATED: ‘Mugged By Reality’: Biden Opened The Door For Chinese EVs To Flood The US Before Moving To Cork It Up, Experts Say)

Reuters reported BYD leaned harder on overseas markets as competition stiffened at home, with the company logging record exports while domestic growth slowed.