By Sherry Qin


Chinese auto company BYD's sales growth slowed significantly in 2025 amid intensified competition at home, but it was still set to top Tesla as the world's biggest electric vehicle company.

The Chinese EV maker said late Thursday that it sold 420,398 units in December, down 18% on year and marking its fourth consecutive month of sales decline. Its 2025 annual sales rose 7.7% to 4.60 million units, significantly lower than 2024's 41% jump.

Tesla likely delivered 422,850 units in the fourth quarter, taking its annual sales to 1.64 million vehicles, according to the market consensus compiled by the U.S. company.

BYD has faced increasing competition from peers like Geely and Leapmotor in the domestic market in the budget segment. Geely delivered 3.02 million units in 2025, up 38.5%. Leapmotor, once a smaller player in China's EV industry, hit its 500,000-unit target for 2025 ahead of schedule and raised the target to more than 600,000 units while setting an ambitious goal of 1 million cars for 2026.

NIO and Li Auto outperformed peers in December sales, delivering 48,135 and 44,246 vehicles, respectively. Nomura auto analyst Joel Ying reckons that their strong sales are likely mainly due to their final push on the delivery of their order backlog.

Chinese auto makers could face more pressure in 2026 as China has scaled back trade-in subsidies for mid-to-lower-priced vehicles in the new year to promote technology innovation and improve the auto sector's product mix, analysts said.

China's retail passenger vehicle sales could decline 5% in 2026 due to the reduction of favorable government policies, Deutsche Bank analyst Bin Wang said in a note.

"With such policy environment, we think market environment likely to be challenging, at least during the beginning stage of 2026," Nomura's Ying said.

However, BYD could regain momentum in 2026 in both domestic and overseas markets, Ying said, adding that BYD will likely reveal its 2026 business strategy and model upgrade after the Lunar New Year.


Write to Sherry Qin at sherry.qin@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

01-02-26 0142ET