For the first time ever, Chinese automaker BYD has overtaken Ford Motor Company in global sales in 2025, edging the U.S. carmaker out by 200,000 vehicles for a total of 4.6 million units sold.
This has pushed BYD up to sixth place among the world’s largest automakers, while Ford dropped to seventh as its global sales fell by nearly 2% to 4.4 million units, Bloomberg reports.
The ranking continues to be dominated by Toyota Motor Corporation, with record global sales of 11.3 million vehicles, followed by Volkswagen Group (just under 9 million units), Hyundai Motor Group (7.2 million), General Motors (approximately 6.2 million), and Stellantis (approximately 5.5 million).
Exports Made Up 25% Of BYD’s Global Sales
Photo by ANDER GILLENEA/AFP via Getty Images
Ford U.S. sales rose last year but fell in Europe and particularly China, where domestic manufacturers like BYD, Xiaomi and Geely have gained significant market share from foreign automakers with affordable, tech-savvy EVs. Chinese domestic brands held a 65% market share in 2025 in their home country.
While BYD’s performance on the global stage is mostly due to sales in its domestic market, where it was the top-selling automaker with over 3.1 million vehicles sold in 2025, exports were not negligible, accounting for roughly 25% of the company’s total sales.
BYD, which is an acronym for “Build Your Dreams,” is also present in markets across Europe, South America and Asia. The automaker exported 1.05 million vehicles in its overseas markets in 2025 and aims to increase that to 1.3 million this year, according to the report. The Chinese company has also established overseas factories in key regions such as Brazil, Thailand, and Hungary, which supply its regional markets of South America, Southeast Asia and Europe.
BYD’s result is remarkable considering that the company only sells plug-in hybrid (PHEV) and all-electric vehicles (BEV), which are collectively classified as New Energy Vehicles (NEV) in China. BYD recently overtook Tesla as the world’s top EV seller in 2025, with 2.25 million units, 600,000 more than the U.S. EV maker. The Chinese company stopped making and selling pure internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles in March 2022.
Ford CEO Calls Chinese Carmakers A “Wild Card”
BYD’s sales performance proves that Chinese automobile brands are playing an increasingly important role in the global market as they leverage their technological advantages in electrification, production and supply chain management.
Speaking during Ford’s fourth-quarter 2025 earnings call that revealed a full-year net loss of $8.2 billion for the company, CEO Jim Farley warned about the impact of China’s auto industry on established car manufacturers worldwide. He called it a “wild card” that all global carmakers must now deal with, according to Nikkei Asia.
He noted that China’s combination of heavily subsidized low-cost production and slowing domestic demand will increase the pressure for Chinese automakers to export more vehicles, forcing western companies to fundamentally restructure their costs to remain competitive.
On the other side of the Pacific, the secretary-general of the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA), Cui Dongshu, told China’s Global Times that BYD surpassing Ford for the first time is not surprising. “Chinese EVs are steadily gaining a foothold in the global auto market, thanks to their growing competitiveness in technology, cost effectiveness, and market appeal,” he said.
