BYD saw its sales in Germany jumping over 400% year over year to 805 units in March — nearly doubling its previous record reached last November with 431 units.
The brand, which officially launched in Europe’s largest car market in late 2022, registered 1,225 units in the first quarter of 2025, a 211.7% increase from the same period last year.
Competitors
Tesla declined 42.5% year over year in March sales in the country, with 2,229 vehicles registered. A total of 4,935 Tesla EVs were sold in Germany during the first quarter, a 62.2% plunge from the same period last year.
On the other hand, Polestar posted a significant year-over-year growth with 357 units sold and a total of 855 in the quarter — up 35.5% growth.
XPeng also reached a new record with 176 units in March and a total of 432 vehicles in the first three months of the year. Sales of the premium EV maker Nio declined to 21 units (a 56.5% drop from the previous March), selling 64 vehicles in the whole quarter (-37.3%).
EV Adoption in Germany
Hybrid vehicles held the biggest share of the market, with 40% of March’s registrations, up 20% year over year. Plug-in hybrid models (PHEV) had 10.5% market share in Germany last month (up 65.8% from the same period last year), while fully electric cars held 16.8% of new registrations, a 35.5% increase.
Internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles were 27.8% of the new registrations, a 29.4% decline from the previous year.
BYD in Europe
BYD, which sells both fully electric and hybrid models, started last month’s sales of its cheapest SUV, the Atto 2. The model’s entry-level variant starts at €31,990, equivalent to $35,400. The Comfort variant is set to arrive in the third quarter.
In the country, BYD offers several SUV models, including the Atto 3, Sealion 7, Seal U and Tang, with the highest starting price in the portfolio, of €75,000 ($83,300). The company also sells the Seal sedan, as well as the compact city car Dolphin.
The automaker is also expanding its presence in Europe as it builds its first car factory in the old continent. This move makes BYD the first Chinese carmaker to produce vehicles in Europe, aiming to avoid tariffs imposed by the EU on imported Chinese EVs. The company also plans to start vehicle production in Turkey next year.
BYD now operates “over 250 stores in 20 countries across Europe.” On Tuesday, it announced its entry into the Swiss market, introducing three models: the Seal, Sealion 7, and Seal U DM-i.
Global Figures
Earlier this week, BYD reported a rise of 25% year over year in vehicle sales for March, reaching 377,420 units. 72,407 of these numbers came from overseas. In the first quarter of 2025, BYD sold a total of 986,098 vehicles with more than 400,000 being fully electric models.
The company aims to sell 5.5 million vehicles this year, with 800,000 units expected to be delivered outside China. BYD needs to sell 4.5 million cars, more than 727,000 overseas, to reach its annual target.
