Elon Musk’s recent foray into American politics doesn’t seem to be jiving well with running an electronic vehicle company once praised by Western liberals for its mainstreaming of sustainable transport. As Musk’s sleepless tirades scare off new customers (Tesla sales plunged 13% within the first three months of 2025, coinciding with Musk’s tenure as head of DOGE), Western customers have been looking for a new EV focused manufacturer to fill that void. The attention is being directed to a generally unexpected place: China’s BYD. The Chinese vehicle manufacturer, which specialises in ‘New Electronic Vehicles’, has come to bat at taking Tesla’s spot on the throne of electric vehicles. They’ve certainly put the work in as far as sales go, outpacing Tesla with the sale of some 416,000 battery electric vehicles within the year’s first quarter, compared to Tesla’s 336,000. Although critics may truthfully point out that the majority of BYD’s sales are domestic – that is, within China – and argue that quality would surely drop off if they were to expand international sales, there’s no denying that BYD have captured the attention and imagination of Western consumers, marking a further shift towards Chinese technology as the United States continues its implementation of tariff policies.