Tesla lost its crown as the world's bestselling electric vehicle maker on Friday as a customer revolt over Elon Musk's right-wing politics, expiring U.S. tax breaks to buyers and stiff overseas competition pushed sales down for a second year in a row. Tesla said that it delivered 1.64 million vehicles in 2025, down 9% from a year ago. Chinese rival BYD, which sold 2.26 million vehicles last year, is now the biggest EV maker. For the fourth quarter, sales totaled 418,227, falling short of the 440,000 that analysts polled by FactSet expected. The sales total were hit hard by the expiration of a $7,500 tax credit that was phased out by the Trump administration at the end of September.

A film production company that helped make "Blade Runner 2049" has sued Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk for using an AI-generated image resembling a scene from the science fiction movie to market Tesla's new robotaxis. Alcon Entertainment said it refused all permissions but Tesla apparently used artificial intelligence to "do it all anyway" when the carmaker unveiled its long-awaited robotaxi on Oct. 10 during a livestreamed event at a Warner Bros. studio lot in Burbank, California.