Tesla Inc. vehicle sales fell 8.6 per cent last year, dropping the Elon Musk -led company well behind China’s BYD Co. Ltd. in the global ranks of electric-vehicle makers. Fourth-quarter deliveries declined 16 per cent to 418,227 vehicles, Tesla said in a statement Friday, trailing analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg and the company.

BYD, by contrast, increased battery-electric vehicle sales both for the quarter and the full year, delivering almost 2.26 million EVs to Tesla’s 1.64 million.

Musk managed to draw attention away from Tesla’s sliding sales by touting progress in his longstanding effort to start a robotaxi business. But while the company began driverless testing toward the end of the year, consumers thus far are only able to summon rides from small numbers of cars in Austin, Tex., and the San Francisco Bay Area with safety supervisors in the front seats.

BYD pulled away from Tesla last year after coming up just short of its American counterpart in 2024. While the Chinese manufacturer delivered more fully electric cars in the fourth quarter of that year, Tesla maintained a slim lead on an annual basis. BYD also sold more than two million plug-in hybrids each of the past two years.

Wall Street has grown increasingly skeptical about Tesla’s 2026 sales prospects. This time two years ago, analysts were predicting Tesla would deliver more than three million vehicles. The average estimate has plunged to around 1.8 million.

Tesla’s chief executive ended the year by building anticipation for Cybercab, a two-seat compact car with butterfly doors. The prototype he first unveiled in late 2024 lacked a steering wheel or pedals, but Tesla board chair Robyn Denholm told Bloomberg News in October that the company will sell the car with those components if required by regulators.

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Tesla shares rose 1.5 per cent before regular trading in New York on Friday, recovering some gains following six consecutive declines over the final trading days of 2025. The stock advanced 11 per cent last year.