Long a stronghold for Tesla, Europe is now preferring BYD for its EV needs

BYD sold nearly 50% more vehicles in the European Union than Tesla did last month, according to new data from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association. The Chinese automaker moved about 9,700 units versus Tesla’s 6,600.

Earlier country-specific data hadn’t been looking good for Tesla. Those 6,600 units moved in July are down 42% year over year, while BYD’s numbers are up 206% over the same period.

BYD, which sells both EVs and plug-in hybrids, outsold Tesla in Europe for the first time in April, though Tesla’s January through July sales have outpaced BYD’s by nearly 20,000.

BYD Executive Vice President Stella Li credited her company’s success to its wide variety of offerings relative to Tesla. Tesla, on the other hand, recently halted new orders of two of its four models available in the EU.

Europeans like electric cars, and in many countries have more readily adopted the new technology than American consumers. Tesla has, historically, done pretty well at selling cars to the European market, but ever since CEO Elon Musk’s debut, shall we say, in American politics, the continent has gotten shakier for the carmaker.

The Takeaway

In Tesla’s defense, Elon Musk said on the company’s last earnings call, “It’s worth noting that we do not actually yet have approval for supervised FSD [full self-driving] in Europe. So our sales in Europe, we think, will improve significantly once we are able to give customers the same experience that they have in the US.”