It wasn’t too terribly long ago that Chinese automakers weren’t considered serious threats to the business of established legacy companies like Ford, but much has changed over the past couple of years. Among that group, BYD has grown at an eye-opening pace as of late, managing to surpass both Ford and Honda in terms of global sales in 2024 – which is all the more impressive given the fact that the company doesn’t even sell vehicles in places like the U.S., and just began doing so in Europe. Now, BYD is poised to outsell another one of its rivals in 2025, too.
According to the Financial Times, BYD is on track to overtake Tesla as the world’s best-selling electric vehicle manufacturer this year, though it stopped short of providing any specific numbers in that regard. Regardless, such a transition marks a huge turnaround in the global car market, as Tesla has long enjoyed a bit of a stranglehold on EV sales, in general. It comes as BYD has massively expanded its global footprint, entering new markets and building new plants, all while investing heavily in those models.
Most recently, that expansion involved taking over a shuttered Ford plant in Brazil and transforming it into an EV hub for that part of the world, where BYD has also quickly gained its fair share of customers. In the meantime, the automaker isn’t slowing its ambitions either, and is aiming to expand its presence outside of China to the point where half of the vehicles it sells would come from those foreign markets by 2030. The company is looking to achieve much of that growth in Europe and Latin America, it explained to investors in a recent meeting.
As one might imagine, that rapid growth has Ford executives admittedly concerned, including Vice Chair John Lawler, who recently stated that “the pace of change in the product development system is unbelievable” when it comes to Chinese automakers. As for Ford CEO Jim Farley, he went so far as to say that “we are in a global competition with China and it’s not just EVs and if we lose this we do not have a future at Ford.”
Interest-free financing and more on the compact crossover.
Providing a way to keep using electric power only.
All while usage continues to rise.
Due to soaring prices and high interest rates.
It managed to complete the race, too.
