Tesla's Bad Sales Year Means BYD Is Now The Best-Selling EV Maker In The World

Happy New Year! It's January 2, 2026, and this is The Morning Shift — your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. This is where you'll find the most important stories that are shaping the way Americans drive and get around.

In this morning's edition, we're looking at Tesla's ever-dropping sales, as well as BYD taking its place as the top-selling EV maker globally. We'll also look at how things are going in Norway, EV-wise, and Zeeker's plans to sell to ze Germans. 

For years, Tesla has been the top-selling EV maker globally. It really defined the market, getting into pure-EV sales before any other company did so at the same scale, and it's been the company to beat ever since. Until 2025, at least, when it was finally beaten. Now, BYD is the top-selling EV maker in the world. The BBC has BYD's sales numbers:

China's BYD is set to overtake Elon Musk's Tesla as the world's biggest seller of electric vehicles (EVs), marking the first time it has outpaced its American rival for annual sales.

On Thursday, BYD said that sales of its battery-powered cars rose last year by almost 28% to more than 2.25 million.

Tesla, which is due to reveal its total sales for 2025 later on Friday, last week published analysts' estimates suggesting that it had sold around 1.65 million vehicles for the year as a whole.

Since that writing, though, we've gotten Tesla's numbers in.They're a bit better than predicted by the BBC, but not by much: Tesla delivered 1,636,129 cars in 2025, far from the 2.25 million EVs that BYD sold. BYD has beaten Tesla in sales before, technically, but those numbers included PHEVs alongside fully-electric cars. Now, BYD wins with no caveats: It sold more EVs than Tesla, end of sentence. 

Tesla is circling the sales drain. The company's CEO seems more focused on robotics (and, for some reason, fast food) than actually selling cars, which has had a predictably detrimental effect on car sales. Well, that, and the whole "shoving his nose into politics" thing. In most of Europe, things are looking bad for Tesla. From Reuters:

Tesla registrations fell in some key European markets in December, but surged in Norway confirming a trend of record sales in Europe's EV trailblazer while the U.S. automaker's market share crumbled across the rest of the region in 2025.

Elon Musk's EV brand has seen slowing sales in Europe since late 2024 due to growing competition, its aging lineup and protests against Musk's public praise of European right-wing political figures. It is also expected to report a sharp drop in global fourth-quarter delivery numbers later on Friday.

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In France, Europe's third-biggest car market after Germany and Britain, Tesla registrations – a proxy for sales – slumped 66% last month to 1,942 vehicles, data from French car body PFA showed on Thursday.

Registrations fell 37% in France in 2025 as a whole.

In Sweden, Tesla registrations fell 71% to 821 vehicles in December leading to a 70% drop in 2025, according to Mobility Sweden.

They also dropped in Portugal and Spain, by 13% to 1,207 cars and 44% to 1,794 respectively, official data showed. For 2025 as a whole, sales fell 22% in Portugal and 4% in Spain.

As we talked about above, Tesla's own numbers paint a bad picture. Fourth-quarter deliveries are down 15%, while full-year numbers are down 9%. Yet, while Tesla, the company that builds and sells cars, seems to be doing worse and worse every day, Tesla the stock is doing just fine. As of this writing, shares in $TSLA are actually up today despite the bad sales news. 

Tesla's global sales decline has one exception, though: Norway. Of all countries, Europe's big oil exporter is the one that boosting Tesla sales, buoyed by a market that's gone almost entirely electric. Nearly every car sold in Norway in 2025 was an EV, and that rising tide lifted even Tesla's boat. From Reuters: 

Almost all new cars registered in Norway last year were fully electric, official data showed on Friday, headed by booming Tesla sales as the Nordic country cements its global lead in phasing out petrol and diesel-powered vehicles.

Oil-producing Norway's rapid switch to battery-powered vehicles contrasts with the rest of Europe, where weak demand for EVs prompted the European Union last month to reverse its planned 2035 ban on internal combustion engine cars.

Driven by tax incentives, 95.9% of all new cars registered in Norway in 2025 were EVs, with that number at almost 98% in December. The annual figure was up from 88.9% in 2024, Norwegian Road Federation (OFV) data showed.

Norway is such an interesting case, because you'd expect such a major oil producer to be big on getting folks into cars that use oil. Turns out the country's pride in its natural beauty wins out, though, and EVs are heavily incentivized. 

Germany has a whole market for company-provided cars, and new rules around how much those cars can cost are limiting the market. Enter Zeekr, which hopes to provide a better offering than Germany's own car companies for that specific market. From Automotive News:

Corporate cost ceilings are reshaping Germany's company-car market in ways that favor Chinese EV newcomers over established European brands.

As fleet program bosses impose a top limit of about €60,000 for company car leases while mandating rapid electrification, employees who traditionally pick an Audi or BMW now face a choice: accept lower-spec European EVs or consider Chinese alternatives with better range and features at the same price point.

Geely-owned Zeekr is betting this cost squeeze will overcome German buyers' historical preference for domestic brands. Unlike many Chinese rivals that have focused on retail buyers or rental fleets, Zeekr is prioritizing the corporate car market, particularly higher-margin company vehicles.

I can honestly say that I don't think anyone I know has ever had a company car. I've heard of them, obviously, I know they exist, but I don't think I've ever personally known anyone who's had one. Sounds like they're a much bigger deal over in Germany, if car companies are explicitly targeting them as a pricing strategy. 

The oil embargo that led to these speed limits was done by March of 1974, but the speed limits themselves remained in effect until 1987. Aren't we lucky to live in the age of 85 mile-per-hour highways?

You've heard this album before in TMS, and you'll hear it again! bold move for Purity Ring to hold off until the band's fourth full-length record to make one self-titled, but it worked out here. This album is great.