Tesla's stock has hit record highs over its robotaxi rollout, but the company's EV business is struggling.

For the entire year, the decline looks slightly better with a drop of 8.6 percent year on year. That means Tesla sold 1,636,129 cars in 2025, 153,097 fewer than it managed in 2024. Which in turn is more than it managed to shift in 2023.

In 2011, Tesla CEO Elon Musk dismissed Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD as a competitor. But some 14 years later, BYD beat the American EV pioneer at its own game.

Tesla vehicle sales declined for a second consecutive year in 2025, hitting their lowest point since 2022. The results mean that Chinese automaker BYD sold more EVs in 2025 than Tesla for the first time in a full year: 2.26 million for BYD vs. 1.64 million for Tesla.

According to The New York Times, Tesla is expected to be outsold in 2025 by China’s BYD for EV sales as that automaker finds favor in regions that Tesla once held as strongholds. And momentum for gas-electric hybrids could be growing as Lexus reports record sales in the U.S. for its hybrid SUV lineup, according to Bloomberg.

Tesla registrations fell in some European markets in December, as the U.S. automaker's market share in the region shrank in 2025, but they hit record levels in Norway, which has been at the forefront of EV adoption.