BYD's success in the EU comes despite the economic bloc's imposition of punitive tariffs on battery electric vehicles made in China last October.BYD sold more pure battery electric vehicles in Europe than Tesla for the first time ever last month — a "watershed moment" for the region's car market,

Despite the EU's imposition of tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles, registrations of such cars increased 59% in April from a year earlier.

As the first mainstream BEV-only brand, Tesla led the way in European EV sales and made much of the fact that its Model Y crossover was the best-selling car in Europe for some time. Those days are long gone.