BYD takes global EV sales crown from Tesla again: WSJ

NEW YORK -- Chinese electric vehicle (EV) growth continued in December, with BYD taking the crown of largest global seller from Tesla for the second time, reported The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on Thursday.

BYD, China's largest EV maker, delivered 207,734 all-electric vehicles in December, up about 9 percent year-over-year.

"For the fourth quarter, BYD delivered about 595,000 all-electric cars. That was more than Tesla, giving the quarterly global sales crown to the Chinese EV maker for the second time," noted the report.

Tesla delivered just under 496,000 EVs in the fourth quarter. That's a record, but Wall Street was looking for about 507,000 vehicles.

For the year, BYD sold about 1.768 million all-electric cars, up about 12 percent year-over-year. Tesla sold 1.79 million, down about 1 percent, it added.