BYD beats Tesla in Europe for the first time with 169% surge

BYD outsold Tesla by an even wider margin when including the carmaker’s plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. (Image: Bloomberg)

BYD Co. sold more electric vehicles in Europe than Tesla Inc. for the first time, overtaking the American brand that long led the continent’s EV segment.

China’s top automaker registered 7,231 new battery-electric vehicles in April, according to market researcher Jato Dynamics. That was up 169% from a year earlier, vaulting BYD into the top 10 brands by EV sales. Tesla placed one spot back as its registrations plunged 49%.

“Although the difference between the two car brands’ monthly sales totals may be small, the implications are enormous,” Jato Dynamics analyst Felipe Munoz said Thursday. “This is a watershed moment for Europe’s car market, particularly when you consider that Tesla has led the European BEV market for years.”

Tesla continued to slump despite accelerating growth in Europe’s EV segment. Registrations rose 28% industrywide, with top EV brand Volkswagen selling 61% more electric cars in April than a year earlier. Volkswagen AG’s Skoda more than tripled its EV registrations.

BYD outsold Tesla by an even wider margin when including the carmaker’s plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. The Chinese company’s total sales soared 359% in April from a year earlier, Jato said.

Until recently, BYD and its Chinese peers had prioritized selling fully electric cars in Europe, spurred by the region’s ambitious targets to lower tailpipe emissions and transition the industry away from internal combustion engines.

That approach changed when the European Union imposed higher tariffs on Chinese-made EVs last year, after determining that generous subsidies from Beijing had created an unfair advantage for its companies. BYD and other Chinese manufacturers are now selling significant numbers of plug-in hybrids in Europe for the first time.

“In the near future we’ll have two pillars,” Maria Grazia Davino, BYD’s regional chief, said last month at an industry event in Stuttgart, Germany. “One is electric.”

BYD is about to reinforce its EV lineup in Europe with the Dolphin Surf, a fully electric hatchback that will sell for less than €23,000 ($26,000). The manufacturer presented the model in Berlin on Wednesday, announcing that the standard version with a range of 220 kilometers (137 miles) will be priced at €19,990 in Germany until the end of June, and €22,990 after that.

The Dolphin Surf — a modified and slightly longer version of its Seagull hatchback — offers premium features including a rotating touchscreen, keyless entry and advanced cruise control. The car will compete with the likes of Renault SA’s R5 and Stellantis NV’s Citroën’s ë-C3.