China's BYD Logs Another Month of Strong Sales Growth in Europe

By Mauro Orru

Chinese auto giant BYD posted a more than threefold jump in European sales last month, continuing to outpace both domestic and foreign rivals.

New-car registrations for BYD models, a reflection of sales, surged to 16,158 units in November from 4,821 a year earlier, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association, an industry body also known as ACEA. When including the U.K., Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, sales more than tripled to 21,133 vehicles.

ACEA began including BYD in its July data, showing a steady stream of European sales growth for the Chinese group ever since. BYD has been outpacing both domestic carmakers like Volkswagen and U.S. rivals such as Elon Musk's Tesla in the continent in terms of monthly sales growth, but not when it comes to the total number of vehicles sold.

BYD sold 159,869 vehicles in Europe between January and November compared with Volkswagen's 3,263,542 and Tesla's 203,382, according to ACEA data. Still, BYD's growth rate of 276%, far better than Volkswagen's 4.6% growth and Tesla's 28% slump, shows that drivers in the continent are increasingly embracing its lineup of electric and hybrid vehicles.

In contrast, Tesla registrations in the EU fell more than 34% on year in November alone to 12,130 units. When including the U.K., Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, sales fell nearly 12% to 22,801.

Tesla has had several months of disappointing sales in Europe as it faces stiff competition. The company also had to contend with the fallout from Musk's involvement with the Trump administration that came to an end a few months ago.

The EV market in the EU improved in November, according to ACEA data. Sales of battery-electric vehicles grew 44% on year. Registrations of hybrid-electric cars increased 4.2%, while plug-in-hybrid models grew more than 38%.

ACEA said EU passenger-car registrations increased 2.1% in November to 887,491 vehicles, with sales up 2.5% in Germany, but down 0.3% in France and flat in Italy.

Write to Mauro Orru at mauro.orru@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 23, 2025 00:14 ET (05:14 GMT)