Elon’s in Denial, But China-Backed BYD Just Took His European Crown

We already knew BYD was handing Tesla Ls all over China… and for me, that was never the real shocker. It’s BYD’s home field. They’ve got government subsidies, government orders, and probably a hotline to Xi Jinping’s procurement office. Their EVs are in school bus fleets, city transportation, and whatever the Chinese version of Uber is.

They also own their entire supply chain, from battery cells to chips to fuzzy dice hanging from the mirror (probably). Meanwhile, Tesla’s still importing parts into China, and offering a vehicle lineup that just feels old.

So yeah… when BYD overtook Tesla in China, it was a big deal, but not a huge surprise. But this morning brought a more surprising headline: BYD has now outsold Tesla in Europe for the first time. That’s right, Elon just got passed up on the continent where people still buy hatchbacks unironically. A place where people don’t care about 0–60 in 3.1 seconds… they care about whether your car can parallel park without knocking over a flower stand.

According to new data from JATO Dynamics, BYD registered 7,231 fully electric vehicles in Europe during April. Tesla, by comparison, registered 7,165. It’s a narrow margin, but a historic one… especially considering that Tesla has led the European EV market for years, while BYD only formally began expanding beyond Norway and the Netherlands in late 2022.

What’s more impressive is that BYD achieved this milestone without including their plug-in hybrid vehicles. If you count total units sold (battery EVs plus plug-in hybrids) BYD sold 12,525 vehicles in April, nearly doubling Tesla’s all-electric total. This shift isn’t happening in a vacuum. Tesla’s sales in Europe have been under pressure all year. In April alone, new Tesla registrations fell nearly 50% compared to the same month in 2024. BYD’s, on the other hand, rose 169%. Even more broadly, Tesla’s sales across Europe dropped 30% in the first quarter of 2025… despite the fact that overall EV demand in the region is rising.

So what’s the big deal causing the slowdown? There are a few key ingredients. One is price (pretty important one). BYD’s vehicles tend to be much more affordable than Tesla’s. Their latest model (the Dolphin Surf) will launch in 15 European countries in June, with a starting price of $26,000. Tesla’s cheapest model still starts at around $45,000, leaving a large gap for budget-conscious buyers.

Then there’s the product lineup. Tesla hasn’t released a new passenger vehicle since the Model Y in 2020. BYD, in contrast, continues to roll out new models tailored to different markets, many of which are smaller and better suited for European cities. And finally, his increasingly loud political stances (from publicly endorsing Germany’s far-right AfD party to doubling down on his bromance with Trump) aren’t exactly winning over the European crowd. The backlash is growing, protests are happening, and at this point, it’s hard to tell if people are walking away from the brand because of the cars or because of the tweets.

At the Qatar Economic Forum this week, Musk pushed back on the idea that Tesla was facing a demand problem in Europe. “Europe is our weakest market,” he acknowledged. “We’re strong everywhere else. Sales are doing well at this point. We don’t anticipate any meaningful sales shortfall.”

That may be true globally. But in Europe (a key market for long-term EV growth) Tesla is clearly losing ground. On the other hand, BYD continues to expand aggressively. The company sold 79,000 vehicles outside of China last month, nearly doubling its overseas sales from the same time last year. Europe is shaping up to be a major battleground, and for now, BYD has the momentum.

If you would’ve told me 5 years ago this was gonna happen to Tesla… being outsold in Europe, I wouldn’t have believed you. But here we are. This may only be the beginning.

PS: It’s a mess out there.

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Stock.News has positions in Tesla.