Tesla’s Europe Sales Collapse as BYD Seizes the Market

By Douglas A. McIntyre Published Sep 25, 9:15AM EDT

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BYD outshined Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) in European sales in August, despite tariffs on the Chinese EV maker.
Tesla’s sales decline is a global problem.

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Tesla’s Europe Sales Collapse as BYD Seizes the Market — © Win McNamee / Getty Images News via Getty Images

The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) has announced its August numbers by country and by brand. Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA | TSLA Price Prediction) took a beating, but sales of Chinese rival BYD took off.

Tesla has suffered falling sales in Europe in 2025. Some blame Elon Musk’s political stances in the European Union and the United States. Some think it is a lack of new models. And, finally, there is BYD’s move into the market.

During the month, Tesla’s sales dropped 37% to 8,220, while BYD’s surged 201% to 9,130.

Tesla has a clear advantage it cannot exploit for now. Tariffs have hurt BYD across much of Europe. They are currently 17% on cars imported from China.

Tesla’s sales decline is part of a global struggle. It is losing ground to BYD and other local manufacturers in China, which is the world’s largest electric vehicle (EV) market by far. Its market share in the U.S. dropped below 49% in the second quarter. It had been as high as 80%. Tesla also is up against growing EV sales by legacy car companies in the U.S.

There is a chance BYD will make it into the U.S. despite 100% tariffs. China’s EVs are considered some of the best in the world.

Tesla’s share price is still remarkably high. After dropping earlier in the year, the stock has risen 30% in the past three months. Its market cap is $1.5 trillion, which makes it the 10th most valuable company in the world.

Tesla has been able to maneuver its image as one that is a robotics and AI company. This, in turn, is the reason for the stock run-up. However, it cannot hide behind that forever if unit sales do not increase.

Tesla Stock Price Prediction and Forecast 2025–2030

About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.