The problem for Tesla is that Chinese carmaker BYD left Elon Musk’s company in the dust. Only six months into 2025 BYD has already cracked the 1 million EV sales mark, compared with Tesla’s first-half total of 720,803 vehicles.
Thanks in part to a research & development team numbering nearly 100,000—almost as large as Tesla’s entire global workforce—BYD has been able to pump out one popular new model after the other, while Tesla still relies predominantly on one vehicle: the Model Y.
For now, investors seem willing to give Musk the benefit of the doubt with the stock still trading over 110 times next year’s consensus earnings estimate of $2.83 per share—a multiple reserved for only a select few high growth stocks like Palantir.
