U.S. Electric Car Sales Just Got Smoked by China’s Biggest Automaker

The Company He Mocked Is Now Number One

Fourteen years ago, Elon Musk sat in a Bloomberg interview and laughed out loud when asked if Chinese automaker BYD could compete with Tesla.

He said their technology was weak and their products unattractive. Last week, BYD announced it sold 2.26 million electric vehicles in 2025, officially passing Tesla’s 1. 64 million to become the world’s largest EV maker.

The company Musk dismissed as a joke just rewrote the industry rankings, and how it got there involves a battery factory, Warren Buffett, a $7,800 car, and one very distracted CEO.

BYD Sells 2.26 Million EVs

BYD’s sales of battery-powered cars rose nearly 28% to 2. 26 million units in 2025, while Tesla’s deliveries dropped 8% to 1.64 million vehicles. The gap was not close.

BYD pulled ahead by more than 600,000 cars, and it did so without selling a single vehicle in the United States.

BYD was able to overtake Tesla even though its EVs are not available for purchase in America, while China is Tesla’s second-largest market. For context, BYD also sold 2.29 million plug-in hybrids on top of its pure electric numbers, bringing its total new energy vehicle sales to 4. 6 million for the year.

Musk Dismissed BYD in 2011

The 2011 Bloomberg interview has aged poorly. When the interviewer mentioned BYD as a competitor and noted Berkshire Hathaway’s 10% stake, Musk could not stop laughing.

When asked why he was chortling, he responded with a question of his own: “Have you seen their car?” Musk continued, saying he did not think BYD had a great product, that their technology was not very strong, and that the company had severe problems in China.

He said their focus should be on making sure they did not die. It is safe to say BYD did not die.

From Battery Maker to Automaker

Wang Chuanfu founded BYD in 1995 outside of Shenzhen at age 29, using a loan from his cousin to start a rechargeable battery company. Wang grew up in poverty in rural Anhui province and was orphaned as a teenager.

His older brother dropped out of school at 18 to work and support the family, and his sister-in-law sold jewelry from her dowry so Wang could afford review textbooks for his final year of high school.

BYD entered the auto market in 2003 after acquiring a small car factory, and launched its first plug-in hybrid in 2008. The company name stands for Build Your Dreams.

Buffett Invested $230 Million in 2008

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway invested $230 million for about a 10% stake in BYD in 2008 after Charlie Munger, Buffett’s longtime partner, pushed for the deal.

Munger called BYD’s founder a combination of Thomas Edison and Jack Welch. The bet paid off spectacularly.

The investment grew more than 30-fold before Berkshire fully exited its position in 2025. A BYD adviser noted that Buffett made 20 times the capital he invested and did very well to do what he did.

Tesla Posts Its Worst Year Ever

Tesla faced declining sales for a second year in a row, with deliveries down around 9% from 2024. The 2025 result was Tesla’s biggest annual drop in company history.

The company also saw a 16% decline in fourth-quarter sales compared to the same period in 2024. Tesla is still relying on the same two cars, the Model 3 and Model Y, for 95% of its volume.

Meanwhile, BYD offers dozens of models across every price segment, from the tiny Seagull city car to luxury sedans and SUVs.

Musk’s Politics Crushed European Sales

Tesla’s sales numbers were particularly bad in Germany and France in January 2025, down roughly 60% each. In Germany, Musk endorsed the far-right AfD party.

In France, suspected arsonists torched dozens of Tesla cars in protest.

Anti-Musk protests organized under the Tesla Takedown banner coordinated demonstrations outside Tesla showrooms across the United States and Europe.

Tesla reported a 71% drop in profits for the first quarter of 2025 as the company faced angry protests over Musk’s leadership of DOGE, the government jobs-cutting group.

The Blade Battery Changed Everything

BYD’s Blade Battery has been recognized as one of the world’s safest EV batteries, passing rigorous safety tests including the nail penetration test without emitting fire or smoke.

The blade battery is a lithium iron phosphate battery with a special design that can be placed in an array like a blade, increasing space utilization by over 50% compared to conventional battery packs.

The chemistry is cheaper, less volatile, uses fewer precious metals than other batteries, and offers better durability under repeated charging.

Tesla now uses BYD’s Blade Battery in some of its own vehicles made in China.

Five-Minute Charging Is Real

BYD launched its Super e-Platform in 2025, claiming its new flash chargers can add 400 kilometers of range in just five minutes.

By contrast, Tesla’s latest Superchargers offer charging at up to 500 kilowatts and can add up to 270 kilometers of range in 15 minutes. In a live demonstration, a BYD Han L charged from 7% to 50% in just 4.5 minutes, gaining 262 miles of driving range.

BYD plans to build more than 4,000 megawatt flash charging stations across China and is bringing the technology to Europe in 2026.

The $7,800 Electric Car

BYD announced a price cut for its Seagull EV in 2025, bringing the starting price to just 56,800 yuan, or about $7,800.

By comparison, the Nissan Versa is the least expensive car in the United States at $18,330, and the average new car price was nearly $48,000 in March 2025.

The Seagull became the best-selling EV in Indonesia by late 2025 and is sold in Latin America as the Dolphin Mini and in Europe as the Dolphin Surf. A 247.

5% tariff on Chinese EV imports effectively blocks cars like the Seagull from American roads.

Factories on Four Continents

BYD’s new Hungarian plant is set to open in October 2025, while a Turkey facility will begin production in March 2026. BYD is targeting up to 1.6 million vehicle sales outside China in 2026, nearly doubling its projected overseas volume from 2025. BYD’s overseas sales grew by 128% to 464,266 units in the first half of 2025.

The company is also building plants in Brazil, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Pakistan to get around tariffs and sell cars closer to customers.

Musk Changed His Mind

Responding to a clip of the 2011 interview posted on social media in 2023, Musk clarified that a lot of things had changed. “Their cars are highly competitive these days,” he wrote.

Charlie Munger put it more bluntly before his death, saying BYD is so much ahead of Tesla in China that it is almost ridiculous.

The company Musk once laughed at now makes more EVs than anyone on Earth, charges them faster than anyone else, and sells them at prices no Western automaker can touch.

Fourteen years is a long time, but the scoreboard does not lie.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

Read more from this brand:

• Las Vegas Cops Get Tesla Cybertrucks Fitted With Shotguns and Shields
• Delaware Court Hands Elon Musk $55 Billion Victory After Two-Year Legal Fight
• Texas Mom Claims Body of Her Dead Son Is on Display in Las Vegas