China’s BYD overtakes Tesla as world’s biggest electric car seller
China’s BYD overtook Tesla as the world’s largest electric carmaker in 2025, after the US company run by Elon Musk reported a slump in deliveries at the end of the year.BYD sold 2.26m battery electric cars during the year, easily outstripping the 1.63m deliveries reported on Friday by Tesla for the same period.The switch is a symbolic moment in the rise of China’s car companies, which have used the transition to electric cars to try to dominate the global automotive industry.
Chinese car exports have risen in recent years, led by BYD and rivals such as the state-owned SAIC and Chery, which runs the Omoda and Jaecoo brands.Electric car sales have continued to grow in the past two years, but the rate of growth has been slower than expected.Electric carmakers have been forced to cut prices aggressively, and governments around the world have rolled back targets on the shift away from petrol.Tesla’s sales appear to have suffered in large part because of the withdrawal of electric vehicle (EV) subsidies by Donald Trump.The US president has also removed emissions regulations that incentivised electric car production.
And Tesla also faced a backlash from some consumers after Musk’s embrace of far-right politics at the end of 2024,Tesla’s deliveries slumped to 418,200 in the final quarter of the year, below the average forecasts of analysts,Sales for 2025 were down by 9% compared with 2024,An average compiled by Bloomberg had suggested that Tesla would deliver 441,000 vehicles during the quarter, but Tesla took the unusual step before the new year of publishing its own consensus estimate for the first time, apparently in an effort to guide investors that sales were expected to be lower,Tesla’s share price was down 1% on Friday, although they were down by 8% since Christmas Eve.
Trump’s anti-EV policies came despite Musk donating more money than anyone else to the victorious 2024 presidential election campaign and briefly running an effort to cut government costs.Musk at first seemed to win support for EVs from Trump – and even an awkward photoshoot in a Tesla in front of the White House – but they fell out dramatically in the summer.It was the second consecutive decline in annual sales for Tesla.Yet even as sales have fallen it remains by far the world’s most valuable carmaker, with shares valued at $1.4tn – more than the next 30 carmakers combined.
Investors appear to be betting that Musk will lead Tesla to be a leading force in robotics and artificial intelligence.Musk has consistently claimed that autonomous capabilities will set Tesla apart from rivals, and it has started operating a limited robotaxi service in Austin, Texas.However, it will still face competition on that front.Several Chinese carmakers and tech companies already have comparable technology, including an offering from BYD called “God’s Eye” that is now included even on its cheapest cars.BYD’s electric car sales rose by 28% during the year despite a weaker performance in December.
BYD was founded in 1995 as a battery company by Wang Chuanfu, who is often described as China’s equivalent to Musk.Its business already produced more cars overall than Tesla when counting hybrids.The Shenzhen-headquartered manufacturer has overtaken Tesla during single quarters before.However, its battery electric production pulled away from its US rival in 2025, even as it faced intense competition from Chinese rivals.BYD recorded 4.
55m car sales overall during 2025, although its sales of plug-in hybrids fell by 8% year on year to 2.29m.That came despite an uptick in sales of plug-in hybrids, combining a smaller battery with a petrol or diesel engine, in some markets from consumers worried about their ability to charge.BYD also more than doubled its sales of commercial vehicles, including electric buses and lorries, to 57,000.
Ørsted files legal challenge against US government over windfarm lease freeze
Europe’s biggest offshore wind developer is taking the Trump administration to court over its decision to suspend work on a $5bn project on the north-east US coast.Denmark’s Ørsted filed a legal challenge on Thursday against the White House’s decision 10 days ago to suspend the lease for its Revolution Wind site as part of a sweeping move halting all construction of offshore wind.The attempted injunction is the latest in a series of legal volleys between the renewables industry and Donald Trump, whose administration has sought to block major offshore wind projects from moving ahead since his re-election.Trump, a vocal supporter of the fossil fuel industry, opposes renewable energy, and wind in particular, saying he finds turbines ugly, costly and inefficient.On 22 December, officials from the Department of the Interior suspended the leases for five large offshore wind projects that are under construction in US waters over unspecified “national security risks”
UK house prices unexpectedly fell at end of year, Nationwide says
UK house prices fell unexpectedly in December, according to a top mortgage lender, with the market finishing the year with the weakest annual growth in more than 18 months.The average property price slumped by 0.4% to £271,068 compared with November, according to Nationwide, confounding City forecasts of a 0.1% rise.The UK’s biggest building society also said that the rate of annual house price growth slowed to 0
Uber rewrites contracts with drivers to avoid paying UK’s new ‘taxi tax’
Uber has swerved paying millions of pounds to the UK exchequer under Rachel Reeves’s new “taxi tax” after the ride-hailing app rewrote contracts with its drivers.The move came as rules announced in November’s budget took effect, which adjusted how VAT is payable on minicab fares and would have resulted in the whole Uber fare becoming subject to the 20% sales tax.In November, Reeves told the Commons the changes would end up “protecting around £700m of tax revenue each year”.However, updated terms issued to Uber drivers from January 2026 mean the technology firm will act as an agent, rather than as the supplier, of transport services outside London. The move means drivers make a contract directly with their passengers – so they must charge any VAT due on the fare, while Uber only adds VAT to its commission
Apple reportedly cuts production of Vision Pro headset after poor sales
Poor sales have reportedly forced Apple to cut production of the Vision Pro headset that it had hoped would herald a new era in “spatial computing”.The tech company also reduced marketing for Vision Pro by more than 95% last year, according to the market intelligence group Sensor Tower in figures first reported by the Financial Times.Apple continues to sell iPhones, iPads and laptops in the millions each quarter, but analysts say sales of Vision Pro headsets, which cost at least £3,199 ($3,499) each, have been sluggish.Apple has not released sales figures for the device, but the market research group International Data Corporation (IDC) estimates it will have sold only 45,000 in the last quarter of last year.IDC said Apple’s Chinese producer, Luxshare, had stopped production of the headset at the start of 2025, and Apple has not expanded direct sales beyond a select 13 countries
Anthony Joshua’s driver charged with dangerous driving after fatal crash in Nigeria
Nigerian police have charged Anthony Joshua’s driver with causing death by dangerous driving after a fatal crash that killed two people.Adeniyi Mobolaji Kayode, 46, was also charged with driving without a valid driving licence and “driving without due care and attention, causing bodily harm and damage to property”. He is due to appear in court on 20 January.The Federal Road Safety Corps in Nigeria said they believed the vehicle was travelling “beyond the legally prescribed speed limit”.Kayode was driving the former world heavyweight boxing champion, Joshua, 36, his personal trainer, Latif Ayodele, and strength coach, Sina Ghami, on 29 December on a busy highway linking Lagos and Ibadan in south-west Nigeria
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