The Chinese electric vehicle giant Byd has expanded its advance on Tesla, declaring a record annual turnover of 777 billion yuan (107 billion dollars) for 2024.
This figure has overshadowed revenues of $ 97.7 billion from Tesla compared to the previous year, further cementing by BYD in the electric vehicle industry. With the outbreak of sales, advanced technology and strategic expansion, Byd has positioned itself as the best world manufacturer of electric vehicles while Tesla faces growing challenges, the drop in sales and an increasingly distracted CEO.
In its profits report published on Monday, Byd revealed a net overvoltage of 34% in annual sliding to just over 40 billion yuan ($ 5.55 billion). This exceeded the expectations of analysts of $ 5.44 billion, but remained below the net profit of $ 7.1 billion from Tesla for 2024. The aggressive growth strategy of BYD and the support supported by the government helped it to surpass Tesla in the key markets, leaving the company of Elon Musk to maintain its position in the EV race.
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Byd sales domination has been obvious for months. In January, it sold almost twice as many electric vehicles as Tesla, which was 11% drop on the other. In early December, Byd had already exceeded its annual objective, selling more than 3.7 million cars in 11 months and exceeding its objective of 3.6 million with time to waste. At the end of the year, the Chinese car manufacturer had delivered an astonishing 4.27 million electric vehicles, a record feat which solidified its place at the top of the VE industry.
Meanwhile, Tesla’s trajectory has made a clear slowdown. The company delivered 1.79 million vehicles in 2024, marking its first annual decrease in sales in more than a decade. It was a drop of 1% compared to the 1.81 million cars sold in 2023, a worrying signal for a company that was once proclaimed exponential growth. Even a fourth record quarter – where Tesla delivered 495,570 vehicles – was not enough to reverse the downward trend.
Tesla’s difficulties can be largely attributed to an increased combination of competition, disruption of the supply chain, high interest rate that made automotive funding more expensive and the divided orientation of Musk. The company was also faced with a slowdown in demand for its vehicles, even after having engaged in aggressive price reductions throughout 2023 and 2024. Although these price reductions have helped increase sales in some quarters, they also tightened Tesla’s beneficiary margins.
Byd exceeds Tesla by loading innovation
Although Tesla has historically directed the electric vehicle industry in innovation, Byd now calls into question its technological supremacy. Last week, the Chinese car manufacturer introduced a revolutionary fast charger of 1,000 kW which can add nearly 250 miles of range to an electric vehicle in just five minutes. This is four times more powerful than Tesla’s current super-loaders, which require 15 minutes to add 200 miles of reach.
Tesla responded by announcing plans to deploy 500 kW loaders later this year, but there is one step behind the progress of Byd. The load speed difference underlines how Byd pushes the limits of EV technology, while Tesla seems to play catching up.
Tesla’s problems get deepened: backlash against musk, stock crash and production problems
Beyond competition with Byd, Tesla fought against internal disorders, financial losses and growing dissatisfaction with the leadership of Musk.
At the beginning of 2025, Tesla was involved in the controversy while the deepening of Musk with the far right wing led to a massive reaction. The billionaire was appointed by US President Donald Trump to lead the Government Department (DOGE), designed to reduce government waste. Musk’s policy, in particular its support for Trump, has spread to Tesla’s reputation, with facilities in the United States and Europe faced with vandalism, criminal fire attacks and calls for boycotts. Investors, formerly confident in Musk’s vision, have become more and more skeptical about its leadership.
Tesla’s shares have dropped more than 50% in the last three months, JPMorgan analysts who have written their price target at $ 135. While the title saw a brief increase of 10% on Musk called an emergency meeting all the hands with Tesla employees, there is little clarity on how the company plans to regain its bases.
Adding to its problems, Tesla’s production capacities have been hampered by the disruption of the supply chain and a slowdown in its gigafactories. The company has struggled to accelerate the production of its cybertruck promised for a long time, which has been faced with delays, technical problems and disappointing demand. Meanwhile, its 3 models and the formerly dominant model are now faced with increasing competition from cheaper and high quality Chinese electric vehicles, in particular byd.
No clear strategy for Tesla’s return
While Tesla has an urgent need for strategic redirect, Musk seems more and more busy by its other companies – in particular X and its ambitious but disturbed, XAI project. Rather than focusing on Tesla’s competitive decline, Musk devotes a lot of time to Doge.
This left Tesla without a clear roadmap to recover its position as manufacturer of the first EV. Unlike past crises, where Musk played an active role in reshaping the future of Tesla, such as the aggressive thrust for mass production to gigafactories or the rapid expansion of compressor networks – he has not yet presented a convincing plan to counter the domination of Byd.
The expansion of Byd and the threat of trade barriers
Despite the impressive growth of Byd, the company still faces obstacles in its world expansion efforts. Governments of various markets have taken measures to limit imports of Chinese electric vehicles, Russia imposing import taxes, the United States retaining high prices and the European Union by considering similar protection measures.
Byd’s executive vice-president Stella Li rejected the concerns about these commercial barriers, arguing that such policies would finally turn. Addressing London Sunday Times, she said: “The prices will have the opposite effect and weaken local industries.”
She also rejected the allegations according to which Byd benefited from excessive state subsidies, rather focusing on what she described as the failure of European car manufacturers to keep the pace of Chinese brands.
“Our car is more elegant than all the cars designed by Europe,” she said. “Our car is smarter.”
The ascent of Byd coincides with the collapse of the European European battery manufacturer Northvolt, who filed for bankruptcy this month. Formerly considered to be the best hope of Europe to compete with the manufacturers of Asian batteries, Northvolt cited the increase in capital costs, geopolitical instability, disturbances of the supply chain and the fluctuating demand as main of the reasons for its fall.
