It appears that Tesla has lost its place as the leader in global electric vehicle sales to Chinese car manufacture BYD. 

In the final quarter of 2023, Tesla reported impressive sales figures of 484,507 units, 11% up on the previous quarter, helped by extra incentives ahead of changes to EV grant subsidise in the US. However, BYD, registered 526,409 for last quarter. 

On annual EV sales Tesla remains the front runner with 1.8 million vehicles delivered in 2023 compared some 1.6 million for BYD. However on current trends, BYD could well out sell Tesla on EVs in 2024. BYD sales are mainly concentrated in its home Chinese market, although European and US sales have shown very significant growth in the last 12 months. 

In Ireland BYD only entered the market in March and has already sold 540 units placing it 27th in the manufacturer sales league. Tesla sold 3371 units in Ireland in 2023 making it the 13th ranked car maker.  

BYD has major plans for the European market and recently announced it has chosen Hungary as the location of its first European car production facility. This will build both EVs and plug-in hybrids. The new factory will be located in Szeged and will initially have the capacity to build 200,000 cars a year.