BYD Soars Past Tesla as Europe Car Sales Resume Growth
By Reuters | 27 Aug, 2025

Newcomer BYD's share of the European auto market beat Tesla's by 50% as sales growth rebounded to 5.9% on strong German demand.

New car sales in Europe rose 5.9% in July as a jump in Germany outweighed drops in Britain, France and Italy, European Automobile Manufacturers Association data showed on Thursday.

Tesla lost market share for a seventh consecutive month despite a rise in overall sales of electric cars, and trailed competitor BYD, which was included in the monthly sales data for the first time. 

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

Domestic carmakers such as Volkswagen are studying new launches to fend off Chinese competitors in Europe's growing EV market and comply in a profitable manner with regulations that encourage adoption of the vehicles.

ACEA CEO Ola Kaellenius co-signed on Wednesday a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen saying that EU targets to cut CO2 emissions from vehicles, including a 100% reduction for cars by 2035, are no longer feasible.

European automakers have booked multi-billion losses and issued profit warnings, with several also citing the impact of U.S. import tariffs.

BY THE NUMBERS 

Sales in the European Union, Britain and the European Free Trade Association rose to 1.09 million cars in July, ACEA data showed. 

Registrations at Volkswagen and Renault rose 11.6% and 8.8% year-on-year, respectively, but fell 1.1% at Stellantis.

Tesla's sales dropped 40.2%, squeezing its market share to 0.8% from 1.4% a year ago. BYD's sales jumped 225.3% to give it 1.2% of the market. 

Total EU car sales rose 7.4%. Registrations of battery electric, hybrid electric and plug-in hybrid cars were up 39.1%, 56.9% and 14.3%, respectively, to account collectively for 59.8% of the bloc's registrations, up from 51.1% in July 2024. 

Overall sales in Germany rose 11.1%, and fell 5% in the UK, 7.7% in France and 5.1% in Italy. Spain, Poland and Austria recorded increases of 17.1%, 16.5% and 31.6%, respectively.

(Reporting by Alessandro Parodi; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)