A Chinese automaker has staked its claim in a rapidly growing electric vehicle market. The latest numbers make it clear that Tesla no longer has the competitive edge.
What’s happening?
Electrek examined data from Australia’s Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries and found that BYD outsold Tesla 10-to-1 in January. Whereas Tesla sales dropped to just 501, a 32% reduction from January 2025, BYD’s soared to 5,001 — an astonishing 641% uptick year over year.
The numbers show just how much ground Tesla has lost in Australia, a lucrative market where EV adoption has surged 93.3% year over year. Early in 2025, Tesla still had a slight edge on BYD. However, BYD’s Sealion 7 had become the country’s top-selling EV by May.
Why is this important?
CEO Elon Musk clearly views Tesla as more than just an EV company. However, most of the brand’s revenue still comes from EV sales, and that spelled bad news in 2025. According to TechCrunch, Tesla’s profits plummeted a whopping 46% compared to the year prior.
“With Tesla pivoting away from cars, these kind of numbers will only get more prevalent as time goes on,” an Electrek reader commented.
Shareholders are confident in Musk’s artificial intelligence and robotics vision, as evidenced by Musk’s unprecedented $1 trillion pay package. Still, skepticism remains that it can bear any fruit.
Meanwhile, automakers such as BYD have raced in to meet the demand for EV innovation at affordable price points, with lower lifetime operating costs and healthier air quality major draws for consumers who are considering a switch to an electric vehicle.
How does this impact consumers?
In markets where BYD and other Chinese automakers can compete freely, including Australia, there are countless inexpensive vehicles, and consumers are taking note.
“BYD’s strategy is working: Flood the market with competitively priced vehicles across every segment, from the sub-$30k Dolphin to the Model Y-fighting Sealion 7. Meanwhile, Tesla’s Australian lineup remains limited to Model 3 and Model Y,” Electrek’s Fred Lambert wrote.
In the United States, where both Republican and Democratic presidents have backed heavy tariffs on China-made EVs to protect American workers, the picture is more complicated.
For its part, Tesla does most of its manufacturing stateside, creating thousands of jobs and supporting domestic supply chains. Yet with its market share waning and other American automakers increasingly reliant on Chinese manufacturing, auto analyst Michael Dunne believes American-Chinese partnerships will continue to bloom.
On the plus side, that could expand the availability of EVs at lower price points. On the other hand, Dunne suggested that domestic automakers have ceded their competitive advantage.
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