When you look at sales at the brand level, things get a little worse for the American automaker. Volkswagen sold more EVs than anyone else in Europe last month, increasing by 61 percent to 23,514 units. As for Tesla? It fell to 11th place, with just 7,165 sales in total, a 49 percent decrease year on year.

"This is a watershed moment for Europe's car market, particularly when you consider that Tesla has led the European BEV market for years, while BYD only officially began operations beyond Norway and the Netherlands in late 2022," JATO Dynamics' global analyst Felipe Munoz said.

Chinse automaker BYD sold more electric vehicle (EV) than US EV maker Tesla in the European market for the first time in April. The Chinese EV giant has reported a 169-percent surge in sales last month as Tesla stumbles,