Chinese electric car maker BYD has sold more electric cars in Europe than US-based Tesla for the first time in April.
According to market researcher Jato Dynamics, BYD sold 7,231 all-electric cars in Europe in April – 169% more than a year earlier. This landed BYD in the top 10 electric brands on the continent. Tesla dropped one place to spot 11.
Tesla's sales plummeted 49% to 7,165 units. Volkswagen ranked first with over 23,500 sales. "Although the difference in sales between the two brands is small, the impact is huge. This is a tipping point for the European car market," stated industry expert Felipe Munoz.
Tesla is struggling with declining sales, partly due to top executive Elon Musk's role with the US government. In that role, he advised President Donald Trump and implemented budget cuts. This led to dissatisfaction among some customers.
In Belgium, BYD was still behind Tesla in April. There were 570 new Tesla cars registered in the country last month, down 55.3% compared to the same month last year, against BYD's 295 cars (+89.1%).
