On Wednesday local time, Tesla CEO Elon Musk responded to the news that BYD's sales exceeded Tesla's last year in an interaction with many X users. He believed that the two companies are not comparable because Tesla is positioned as an artificial intelligence + robotics company, not just a car company.


Alex Avoigt, a German engineer and electric car enthusiast, posted on the

1． BYD sells low-priced BEVs in China, but not yet in Europe and North America, and is unlikely to sell them at the same price, so Tesla is more likely to sell more BEVs in North America and Europe, especially once the $25,000 model is delivered.

2. Tesla has the ability to activate FSD on every car delivered overnight and has huge margin leverage that no other automaker can match - so Tesla will lead in terms of margins and profits, becoming the most profitable company.

3. Tesla currently has huge cost competitiveness, but once the FSD and Optimus Prime robots start selling, Tesla will be free to price its cars more attractively while still achieving industry-leading profit margins and selling more cars with better technology at lower prices.

4． Getting other automakers to fully switch to pure electric vehicles is an important part of Tesla's mission, so BYD is very popular as part of Tesla's mission. "

A user with the account name "Matℍias" responded: "In my opinion, BYD and Tesla are not comparable. BYD is a car and battery manufacturer from China and it must prove its success in other continents.

Tesla is a core technology company and now makes most of their profits from cars. Tesla Energy will change that soon, and so will FSD and robots in the future.

That said, both are very important. BYD is also providing battery support for Tesla's Model Y short-range version in Europe, a good example of how the two rivals can work together.

Who knows, maybe BYD is a large OEM (original equipment manufacturer) negotiating with Tesla for FSD licensing. Their cars are pretty good too. "

Another X user, Nicklas, also joined the discussion and tried to compare BYD with Tesla. He believed that although BYD's sales exceeded Tesla in 2023, its revenue and profits were lower than Tesla's; the number of employees was several times greater than Tesla's, indicating that the degree of automation was not as good as Tesla's; Tesla has 8 factories around the world, while BYD has 30; in terms of revenue and profit generated by each employee, Tesla is also several times that of BYD.

He wrote: “I know I can’t directly compare all these numbers, but I do it anyway.

These are two completely different companies.

BYD doesn't even believe in self-driving capabilities in the short term.

Tesla is working hard to achieve this goal. However, both companies are accelerating the transition to sustainable transportation, which is a good thing, so I hope more companies try to compete with these two pure electric car manufacturers. "

Musk responded to this post: "Tesla is an AI/robotics company, although in the eyes of many it is a car company."


Last week, Musk said in response to an analyst comparing Tesla to Toyota: "He has the wrong frame of reference. We are an AI/robotics company."

In September last year, Musk said: "Almost all of Tesla's long-term value will come from AI and robots, including cars and humanoid robots."