Tesla Q3 Deliveries Beat Expectations, but BYD Widens BEV Lead to 276,000 Vehicles

• Tesla delivered 486,532 vehicles globally in the third quarter, down 2.13% year-on-year but above market expectations.
• BYD sold 762,478 passenger BEVs in the same period, widening its lead over Tesla from about 77,000 vehicles in the second quarter to about 276,000.

Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) reported third-quarter global deliveries that exceeded market expectations but fell slightly from a year earlier, as its gap with BYD's battery electric vehicle sales widened further.

The US electric vehicle maker delivered 486,532 vehicles globally in the third quarter, down 2.13% year-on-year and up 1.33% from the second quarter, it said on Friday.

Deliveries exceeded the market estimate of 463,761 vehicles by about 4.91% and reached their highest quarterly level this year, but remained below the record 497,099 vehicles delivered a year earlier.

The result ended Tesla's 2 consecutive quarters of year-on-year growth. Its deliveries rose 6.34% in the first quarter and 24.99% in the second quarter.

By contrast, BYD (HKEX: 1211) sold 762,478 passenger battery electric vehicles (BEVs) in the third quarter, up 30.89% year-on-year and 36.87% from the second quarter, according to data compiled by CnEVPost.

BYD's BEV sales exceeded Tesla's deliveries by 275,946 vehicles, or 56.72%, in the quarter. In the second quarter, the gap was 76,964 vehicles, with BYD ahead by 16.03%.

Tesla delivered 358,023 vehicles in the first quarter, exceeding BYD's 310,389. BYD regained the lead in the second quarter and has now remained ahead for 2 consecutive quarters.

All vehicles delivered by Tesla are BEVs. The BYD figures used in this comparison cover only passenger BEVs, excluding its plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and commercial vehicles.

Tesla delivered 1,324,681 vehicles in the first 9 months of this year, up 8.77% year-on-year. BYD's passenger BEV sales totaled 1,629,957 over the same period, up 1.50%.

That put BYD's passenger BEV sales ahead of Tesla's deliveries by 305,276 vehicles in the first 9 months, despite Tesla's faster year-on-year growth.

In 2025, BYD sold 2,256,714 passenger BEVs, surpassing Tesla's 1,636,129 deliveries for the first time to become the world's largest BEV seller for the full year.

Tesla's third-quarter deliveries continued to be dominated by the Model 3 and Model Y. The 2 models accounted for 478,237 deliveries, or 98.30% of the total, while other models contributed 8,295.

The company produced 464,391 vehicles in the third quarter, with deliveries exceeding production by 22,141 vehicles. It also deployed 13.7 GWh of energy storage products during the period.

Tesla will release its third-quarter financial results after the US market closes on October 21. Management will hold a webcast Q&A that day to discuss its financial performance and business outlook.