NEW YORK: Tesla lost its crown as the world’s best-selling electric vehicle maker on Friday as a customer revolt over Elon Musk’s right-wing politics and stiff overseas competition pushed sales down for a second year in a row.
Tesla said it delivered 1.64 mn vehicles in 2025, down 9 per cent from a year earlier. Chinese rival Byd, which sold 2.26 million vehicles last year, is now the biggest EV maker. For the fourth quarter, sales totalled 418,227, falling short of the 440,000 that analysts polled by FactSet expected.
The sales total may likely have been impacted by the expiration of a $7,500 tax credit that was phased out by the Trump administration at the end of September.
Even with multiple issues buffeting the company, the stock finished 2025 with a gain of approximately 11 per cent, as investors hope Tesla CEO Musk can deliver on his ambitions to make Tesla a leader in robotaxi service and get consumers to embrace humanoid robots that can perform basic tasks in homes and offices.
The latest quarter was the first with sales of stripped-down versions of the Model Y and Model 3 that Musk unveiled in early October as part of an effort to revive sales. The new Model Y costs under $40,000 while customers can buy the cheaper Model 3 for $37,000.