BYD Surpasses Tesla in EU Registrations and Wows Goodwood, Yet Shares Remain Stuck at Yearly Lows

BYD overtakes Tesla in EU EV registrations with 159% surge, unveils 8 new models at Goodwood, but shares drop to 52-week low of €8.37, down 42% from peak.

The Chinese electric-vehicle giant is telling two very different stories these days. In Europe, BYD is smashing records — overtaking Tesla in new registrations and rolling out eight new models at the prestigious Goodwood Festival of Speed. On the stock market, however, the narrative is far bleaker, with shares hovering within a hair’s breadth of their 52-week low.

May’s EU registration data from the ACEA industry group paints a striking picture. BYD clocked 26,017 new vehicles across the bloc, a 159% surge year-on-year, comfortably ahead of Tesla’s 21,767 units (up 152%). Over the first five months of 2026, the Chinese manufacturer has amassed 99,578 EU registrations, compared with 89,180 for its American rival. That translates into a 2.1% market share in the region, up from 0.8% a year earlier. Including EFTA states and the UK, the tally reaches 135,307 units — a 145% jump. The broader shift to battery-electric vehicles is accelerating, with EVs now accounting for 20% of all new-car sales in the EU, versus 15.3% last year, as petrol and diesel together slip to just 30%.

Yet the European euphoria is being tempered by global realities. BYD’s worldwide sales of pure EVs edged up only marginally in May to 383,453 vehicles from 382,476 a year ago. The cumulative figure for the first five months stands at 1.4 million units, roughly 20% below the same period in 2025. Competition is also intensifying: domestic rivals Chery and Leapmotor posted even faster growth rates in Europe, albeit from a smaller base.

The company’s splash at Goodwood this July, featuring no fewer than eight vehicle premieres, was designed to turbocharge brand awareness. The Denza Z Coupe and Denza Z Racing both made their global debuts, the Coupe sharing a three-motor powertrain with the Denza Z Spider and capable of 350 km/h. Britain will see the Z9GT land first, followed by the D9 DM-i. BYD also paraded the Dolphin G DM-i (fresh from its Berlin unveiling on 10 June), the SHARK pickup (435 PS, 55 miles of electric range, 2,500 kg towing capacity) and two Yangwang models — the U9 Xtreme and the U7 in both plug-in hybrid and full-electric guises. The company boasted it had erected the largest stand in Goodwood history, measuring 2,016 square metres.

Beyond the glitz, BYD is laying concrete groundwork for European penetration. It aims to have its Denza brand in over 30 European countries with at least 150 dealers by year-end. A more ambitious plan involves installing 6,000 fast-charging stations outside China within twelve months, half of them in Europe. The system promises to take a battery from 10% to 70% in five minutes.

None of this, however, has been enough to lift the stock. BYD shares closed at €8.49 on Tuesday, a mere 1.4% above the 52-week trough of €8.37 hit the same day. At more than 42% below last July’s peak of €14.80, the stock is firmly in bear territory. The relative strength index has sunk to 21 — technically oversold — and the price languishes well under both the 50-day moving average (€10.48) and the 200-day average (€10.89).

The central tension remains unresolved: European expansion is real and accelerating, but global sales are stalling and new competitors are piling in. Until BYD can demonstrate that overseas growth is more than offsetting the home-market weakness, the stock is likely to stay pinned near the floor. Investors are waiting for hard delivery numbers, margin trends and evidence that the charging network is actually drawing customers — spectacle alone won’t change their calculus.