BYD posts slowest annual sales growth in 5 years, but China’s EV giant is still set to outsell Tesla for the first time

BYD’s sales growth fell to 7.7% in 2025 as growing domestic competition in China’s saturated car market sapped momentum at the EV giant. It’s the slowest pace of growth for the company in five years. BYD sold 4.6 million vehicles last year, compared to 4.3 million in 2024. 

Monthly sales for December dropped by 18.3% year-on-year, falling to around 420,000 cars sold, according to a Jan. 1 exchange filing.

Still, the Chinese EV firm is still likely to overtake Tesla in annual...