BYD is in a global pursuit war with Tesla. Data shows that BYD’s monthly or quarterly sales have surpassed Tesla in many core regional markets around the world, including Brazil, Australia and many European countries.
As a leading domestic new energy vehicle company, BYD’s global offensive this year has become more fierce. Data provided by the company show that BYD exported about 89,000 vehicles in May, setting a new record; the cumulative total export sales from January to May was 374,200 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 112%.
In a recent interview, Tesla CEO Musk talked about his views on BYD and said that he did not pay much attention to competitors, but only focused on making the products perfect. He also said that the competitiveness of China’s new energy vehicle market is the “strongest”.
Behind BYD and Tesla’s overseas pursuit war is the change in the pattern of my country’s auto companies going overseas: from the 1.0 era of complete vehicle exports to the 2.0 era of industrial chain system exports; from “made in China and sold globally” to “made globally and sold globally”. China’s new energy vehicles will also bring the development trend of new intelligent network technology to the global automobile consumer market, building new advantages in overseas automobile trade.
1. The leading Chinese and American new energy vehicle companies are competing overseas
The end of June has come, and BYD’s car transport roll-on/roll-off ship “Hefei” is heading to Europe through the Suez Canal. In May, “Hefei” and “Pioneer 1” jointly transported more than 10,000 BYD cars to the Port of Portusel, Brazil, to open up new local market share.
Opening up overseas markets is BYD’s clear strategic goal this year and one of the keys to BYD’s target sales. BYD Chairman Wang Chuanfu said at this year’s performance meeting that BYD’s sales target for 2025 is 5.5 million vehicles, of which 800,000 will come from overseas markets. At the shareholders’ meeting, Wang Chuanfu also mentioned that overseas market prices are relatively stable, which is of great help to the company’s profitability. Overseas markets, like high-end development, are important strategies for BYD.
In the global market, Tesla is a competitor that electric vehicle companies cannot ignore. Chinese new energy vehicle companies represented by BYD continue to chase Tesla overseas.
BYD’s breakthrough in the European market this year is quite impressive. According to data from research firm JATO Dynamics, BYD’s pure electric vehicle sales in the European market in April surpassed Tesla for the first time, with registrations reaching 7,231 units, a year-on-year increase of 169%. During the same period, Tesla’s sales in Europe were 7,165 units, closely following. According to data from the European Automobile Manufacturers Association, Tesla’s new car registrations in Europe in May were 13,863 units, a sharp drop of nearly 28% compared with 19,227 units in the same period last year; while BYD’s total sales in the five core markets in Europe (the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain) have exceeded 10,000 units, especially in the Spanish market, where BYD’s monthly sales are three times that of Tesla.
In the Brazilian market in South America, data from overseas research firm Clean Technica showed that BYD’s sales in the first quarter exceeded 20,000 units, ranking first in local new energy vehicle sales. In May this year, Brazil’s pure electric vehicle sales reached 6,969 units, of which BYD sold 5,596 units, accounting for more than 80%, also ahead of Tesla.
In the Australian market in Oceania, according to Yiche data, BYD’s sales in the first quarter exceeded 8,800 units, surpassing Tesla by nearly 3,000 units.
In Asia, Yiche data shows that BYD’s sales in May in the four core markets of Southeast Asia (Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia) all exceeded Tesla’s. In particular, in the Thai market, BYD’s sales in that month were five times that of Tesla; in the Singapore market, BYD’s sales in that month were twice that of Tesla. In Japan, BYD’s sales are far ahead of Tesla; but in South Korea, Tesla’s sales in May exceeded 6,500 vehicles, which is 10 times BYD’s sales in that month.
As electric vehicle sales in many key markets decline year-on-year, Tesla is accelerating the adjustment of its management team. On June 26, local time, Musk fired Omid Afshar, Tesla’s vice president of manufacturing and operations. Omid’s team members include the vice president of North American sales, the vice president of Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and the head of Tesla’s policy and business development.
BYD’s pursuit of Tesla in many core regional markets around the world is a microcosm of Chinese automakers’ global expansion.
According to the data from the China Passenger Car Association, the top three countries in China’s total exports of new energy vehicles from January to May 2025 are Belgium (119,678 vehicles), Brazil (105,513 vehicles) and Mexico (84,862 vehicles). In the key European market for high-end development, riding on the momentum of new energy vehicle exports, in the first quarter of this year, Chinese automakers have reached a 20% market share in the European electric vehicle market. Many Chinese automakers such as Xiaopeng, Chery, and GAC have entered the European market one after another, and have achieved stable sales growth.
2. Chinese automakers turn to the layout of local supply chain systems
In the strategy of expanding overseas offensives, Chinese automakers are undergoing a new transformation, that is, from the 1.0 stage of vehicle exports to the 2.0 stage of industrial chain system exports, and building production lines, supporting parts, and R&D centers in the sales countries or regions.
At the 2025 Global New Energy Vehicle Cooperation and Development Forum, Zhang Yongwei, Vice Chairman and Secretary-General of the China Electric Vehicle Hundred People’s Association, said that at present, there are two major changes in the globalization of the automotive industry. First, the barriers to vehicle sales are increasing, and they are gradually extending from vehicles to supply chains. Many countries want to develop their own automobile industry. While accepting products from other countries, they are also cultivating their own automobile manufacturing system. Second, the automobile supply chain is highly complex and more vulnerable. There is still a risk of decoupling and breaking the supply chain, especially when the global automobile market is accelerating the integration of intelligence and electrification, and there are more restrictions on the exchange of technology. Zhang Yongwei believes that based on the above situation, automakers need to study new global cooperation models. The current cooperation model for automakers going overseas is to promote brands and products to the host country market, and at the same time bring the automakers’ own closed parts to the host country, forming an investment in the host country but with poor industrial spillover effects. This model has now encountered market barriers. At the same time, coupled with the current host country’s desire to develop its own automobile industry, when there is a contradiction between the traditional model and the new situation and new needs, it is necessary to find a new path to resolve the contradiction and respond to changes in the situation. Take BYD as an example. In 2023, BYD has started to build its first European new energy passenger car production base in Hungary. In May this year, BYD also announced that it would establish its European headquarters and a new European R&D center in Budapest. On the 25th of this month, BYD reached a supply agreement with the European Voestalpine Group, which will supply steel to BYD’s Hungarian passenger car factory to strengthen its European localization strategy. Two days later, BYD laid the foundation for the expansion project of its electric bus and truck factory in Hungary. So far, BYD has established a complete industrial chain system in Europe, from factory production lines to R&D and then to core personnel at the headquarters.
Moving production bases and R&D centers overseas for localized production and R&D has become a new consensus for Chinese automakers to go overseas, and it is also a consensus of global automakers on overseas markets. Tang Zhikun, general manager of Xpeng Motors’ international business department, said: “Localization overseas is a very important strategic focus for Xpeng. Win-win cooperation with local partners, users, industries and society is the core of Xpeng’s 2.0 overseas expansion.” According to the plan, Xpeng Motors will start assembly of its local KD factory in Indonesia at the end of June. The Indonesian factory is also Xpeng’s first overseas production base. In the longer-term plan, Xpeng Motors will invest more resources in 10 to 12 countries in its core overseas regions this year, including product localization.
In addition, Changan Automobile’s Thailand production base and GAC’s Indonesian factory have both rolled off the production line in the first half of this year. Great Wall announced that it will expand the production capacity of the Thailand factory in the second quarter of this year. Ideal Auto’s first overseas R&D center was launched in Germany, and GAC also established a design center in Milan, etc., which is closer to the local consumers’ demand for products.
Sun Xiaohong, Secretary-General of the Automobile Internationalization Professional Committee of the my country Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products, said that customs data showed that my country’s automobile exports reached 6.4 million vehicles last year. According to the 10% growth rate forecast, my country’s automobile exports are expected to reach 7 million vehicles this year. If the growth rate of automobile exports remains above 10%, by 2030, China’s automobile exports are expected to reach 10 million vehicles.
In addition to Chinese auto companies, Chinese parts companies in the automotive supply chain are also accelerating their overseas expansion, such as power battery companies represented by CATL, automotive glass companies such as Fuyao Glass, and tire companies such as Sailun Group. All automobile supporting parts companies have built overseas production bases as planned.
For example, customs data show that in the first quarter of 2025, China’s rubber tire exports reached 2.24 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 6.2%; the export value was 40 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7%. During the same period, in the global power battery installed capacity ranking from SNE Research, CATL and BYD (Fudi Battery) still firmly occupied the first and second places, with year-on-year growth of 40.2% and 62% respectively.
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