As Tesla has registered its strongest second quarter on record, the negative spiral initiated by Musk seems to have been countered. The American EV maker is back on track, but BYD still outsold it by roughly 77,000 fully electric vehicles on a global level.
According to figures published this week, Tesla delivered 480,126 units in Q2 2026. That is a strong jump of 25% over the same quarter last year.
It is also the first time in two years that Tesla has posted year-over-year quarterly growth. For a car maker that watched its sales curve flatten amid aging products, debatable political endeavors by its CEO, and fierce Chinese competition, this is a statement.
Beating analists
The numbers also beat analysts’ expectations, which were betting on around 406,000 units, by quite a wide margin. The brand also shifted approximately 28,000 vehicles from excess inventory that had been sitting around since a still-disappointing first quarter.
Logically, Europe is part of the good news. In Belgium, sales have soared by almost 75% year-on-year in May, 29.8% since the beginning of 2026.
And in the rest of the EU, registrations rose sharply too: 56% in Sweden, 39% in Denmark, 43% in Portugal and Italy, and more than doubled in France. Notably, Spain saw a modest 5.6% rise.
The overall trend is clear. Where buyers were boycotting the brand over Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s support for Trump, his split from politics has resulted in a commercial turnaround. Whether that means people have learned to split product from person or whether forgetfulness is an important driver, remains unanswered.
Also, Tesla has countered its sales slide with more affordable Standard versions of both the Model 3 and Model Y, the bread-and-butter models.
The gap is closing
There’s another part that stings a little less in Austin.
According to Bloomberg, Chinese competitor BYD moved 557,900 vehicles in the same quarter. That makes BYD the global BEV leader in Q2 by about 77,000 units. The Shenzhen giant is still ahead, and it has been for a while now.
But things are changing as BYD is grappling with a difficult domestic market. A year ago, BYD was outselling Tesla by more than 220,000 fully electric vehicles in a single quarter, a gap that felt insurmountable. Today, that gap is down by two-thirds.
Belgium illustrates both Tesla’s recovery and BYD’s rapid advance. Tesla registered 1,377 cars in June, representing a 3.03% share of the Belgian new-car market, while its first-half volume rose 29.8% year-on-year to 7,080 cars and a 3.07% market share.
BYD, meanwhile, crossed the symbolic 2% threshold for the first time in June, registering 936 cars for a 2.06% share. Over the first six months, BYD nearly doubled its Belgian volume to 3,614 cars, equivalent to a 1.57% market share.
Tesla, therefore, remains clearly ahead in Belgium, with almost twice BYD’s first-half volume. But BYD is gaining ground fast, helped by an expanding model range, dealer network, and its ability to sell both fully electric and plug-in hybrid cars. The comparison is not entirely like-for-like: Tesla’s Belgian registrations are virtually all battery-electric, while BYD’s total includes PHEVs.
Production outpacing sales
Tesla, a pioneer in fast charging, hasn’t answered yet. But the company is probably still surfing on the good news that production is outpacing sales again. Previously, cars were piling up in parking lots. But in Q2, the brand sold more cars than it built, remedying its inventory headache.
All eyes are on the third quarter now to see if Tesla can confirm the uprising.
