BYD of China sold more electric cars than Tesla in Europe for the first time last month, reflecting an aggressive push by the Chinese automaker on the continent as well as the continuing travails of Elon Musk’s company among European buyers. .
BYD edged out Tesla by fewer than 100 vehicles, according to data for 28 European countries released on Thursday by JATO Dynamics, a research firm. BYD sold 7,231 fully battery-powered cars in Europe last month, versus Tesla’s 7,165.
Despite the small margin, it is “a watershed moment for Europe’s car market,” Felipe Munoz, an analyst at JATO, said in a statement. European car buyers appear willing to embrace Chinese electric cars, which remain cheaper than locally made alternatives despite tariffs imposed by the European Union last year aimed at protecting domestic producers.
BYD’s battery-powered car sales jumped nearly 170 percent in April, versus the same month last year. That far surpassed the pace of sales for all electric cars, which grew by 17 percent over that period.
At the same time, Europeans are shunning Tesla, which for years was the most popular brand of electric cars in Europe. Its sales plunged 49 percent year over year in April.
In Europe, Tesla’s cars first became available in Norway in 2014, before becoming the leading producer of electric vehicles on the continent. It began production at a factory outside Berlin in 2022 — the same year that BYD started selling cars in Norway and the Netherlands.
The Chinese automaker is building a factory in Hungary, as well as one in Turkey, which can export cars to the European Union without having to pay tariffs. This week, BYD announced that it would establish its European headquarters in Hungary, which it said would create 2,000 jobs, including in research and development.
Over the past year, BYD has expanded rapidly throughout Europe. If its plug-in hybrid models are also included, it increased sales by well over 300 percent in April, compared with the previous year. By this measure, it also outsold established European brands like Fiat, Dacia and Seat in some big European countries.
Germany’s Volkswagen, which has struggled for years to compete against Chinese automakers as well as Tesla, topped the list of electric car sales in April, with more than 23,500 new registrations, up roughly 60 percent.
Tesla’s sales in Europe had been slowing even before Mr. Musk, the company’s chief executive, began spending millions to back President Trump last year. But the backlash grew after he took up a role at the White House slashing thousands of jobs and making deep cuts to spending, including on foreign aid. Last month, the car maker’s sales in Germany and Britain fell to their lowest point in more than two years.
Melissa Eddy is based in Berlin and reports on Germany’s politics, businesses and its economy.
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