Well-known Berkshire Hathaway fund manager Charlie Munger argues that BYD is beating Tesla in China, but the actual market situation seems more complex.
Besides being incredibly well known for his investment prowess at Berkshire Hathaway alongside Warren Buffet, Charlie Munger is known for his massive investment into BYD. Under his and Buffet’s leadership, Berkshire Hathaway invested in BYD over a decade ago, and since then, its holding has exploded in value. Berkshire has made over 600% gain on that single investment. In an interview with CNBC, Munger argued that the Chinese automaker is dominating its American counterpart, Tesla, in China.
“Tesla last year reduced its prices in China twice. BYD increased its prices. We are direct competitors. BYD is so much ahead of Tesla in China … it’s almost ridiculous,” Munger told CNBC, and he has a point. Thanks to its massive number of affordable offerings, BYD constitutes most of the Chinese EV market. However, other factors show that this competition is far less one-sided than first meets the eye.
First, despite its wide range of offerings, BYD consistently trades with Tesla’s vehicles for the top-selling vehicle month to month. Most recently, this has been seen in markets such as Wuhan, Suzhou, and Nanjing.
China NEV Jan insured units
✴️Wuhan
?BYD Song+ DM-i
✴️Suzhou
?Tesla Model 3
✴️Xi’an
?BYD Song+ DM-i
✴️Nanjing
?Tesla Model Y
(DONGCHEDI) https://t.co/J9JQZ3Dk3q pic.twitter.com/bKcIv3FuEm— Moneyball (@MoneybaII_R) February 16, 2023
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Perhaps the most interesting aspect of these statistics is that Tesla’s far more premium vehicles, a typically less popular segment, are still keeping up with BYD’s more affordable offerings, including the BYD Song+ DMi.
As for the pricing mentioned by Munger, while it is true that Tesla likely lowered prices in order to become more price competitive with brands like BYD, NIO, and Xpeng, it seems as though this has resulted in a swing in popularity towards Tesla in the final quarter of last year.
Globally, BYD has been going toe to toe with Tesla’s sales numbers, which is certainly a remarkable accomplishment considering the brand has only recently begun to escape the Chinese market. In 2022, BYD sold a total of 911,140 pure electric vehicles to Tesla’s 1.31 million sales.
Despite the apparent rivalry between Tesla and BYD, both companies have made it clear who the real competitor is, the gas vehicle. And while Tesla has met its Chinese match with BYD, the remarkable success of rapid electrification in China has undoubtedly been a group effort. Hopefully, this ongoing rivalry will lead to an ever-better set of products and prices for consumers as they transition to electric vehicles in China and around the world.
-->What do you think of the article? Do you have any comments, questions, or concerns? Shoot me an email at william@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @WilliamWritin. If you have news tips, email us at tips@teslarati.com!
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Tesla Giga Berlin is still ramping production to meet Model Y demand: plant manager
Tesla Gigafactory Berlin has expanded to two full shifts, as per the facility’s plant manager, and a lot of it is due to Model Y demand.
Tesla Gigafactory Berlin has expanded to two full shifts, as per the facility’s plant manager, and a lot of it is due to Model Y demand. While registrations in some countries such as Sweden have fallen sharply this year, the company’s sales in other key territories have been rising.
Giga Berlin shifts to two shifts
Giga Berlin factory manager André Thierig told the DPA that the facility has been running two shifts since September to manage a surge in global orders. And due to the tariff dispute with the United States, vehicles that are produced at Giga Berlin are now being exported to Canada.
“We deliver to well over 30 markets and definitely see a positive trend there,” Thierig said.
Despite Giga Berlin now having two shifts, the facility’s production still needs to ramp up more. This is partly due to the addition of the Tesla Model Y Performance and Standard, which are also being produced in the Grunheide-based factory. Interestingly enough, Giga Berlin still only produces the Model Y, unlike other factories like Gigafactory Texas, the Fremont Factory, and Gigafactory Shanghai, which produce more than one type of vehicle.
Norway’s momentum
Norway, facing an imminent tax increase on cars, has seen a historic spike in Tesla purchases as buyers rush to secure deliveries before the change takes effect, as noted in a CarUp report. As per recent reports, Tesla has broken Norway’s all-time annual sales record this month, beating Volkswagen’s record that has stood since 2016.
-->What is rather remarkable is the fact that Tesla was able to achieve so much in Norway with one hand practically tied behind its back. This is because the company’s biggest sales draw, FSD, remains unavailable in the country. Fortunately, Tesla is currently hard at work attempting to get FSD approved for Europe, a notable milestone that should spur even more vehicle sales in the region.
Tesla is launching a crazy Full Self-Driving free trial, which will enable owners who have not purchased the suite outright to try it for 30 days.
There are a handful of stipulations that will be needed in order for you to qualify for the free trial, which was announced on Thursday night.
Tesla said the trial is for v14, the company’s latest version of the Full Self-Driving suite, and will be available to new and existing Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, and Cybertruck owners, who will have the opportunity to try the latest features, including Speed Profiles, Arrival Options, and other new upgrades.
🚨 Tesla is launching a free 30-day trial of Full Self-Driving in North America for owners.
It includes every model, but you need v14.2 or later, and you cannot have already purchased the suite outright. https://t.co/8CNmxxOkVl
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) November 27, 2025
You must own one of the five Tesla models, have Full Self-Driving v14.2 or later, and have an eligible vehicle in the United States, Puerto Rico, Mexico, or Canada.
The company said it is a non-transferable trial, which is not redeemable for cash. Tesla is reaching out to owners via email to give them the opportunity to enable the Full Self-Driving trial.
Those who are subscribed to the monthly Full Self-Driving program are eligible, so they will essentially get a free month of the suite.
Once it is installed, the trial will begin, and the 30-day countdown will begin.
Tesla is making a major push to increase its Full Self-Driving take rate, as it revealed that about 12 percent of owners are users of the program during its recent earnings call.
Tesla CFO Vaibhav Taneja said during the call:
“We feel that as people experience the supervised FSD at scale, demand for our vehicles, like Elon said, would increase significantly. On the FSD adoption front, we’ve continued to see decent progress. However, note that the total paid FSD customer base is still small, around 12% of our current fleet.”
Earlier today, we reported on Tesla also launching a small-scale advertising campaign on X for the Full Self-Driving suite, hoping to increase adoption.
Tesla Full Self-Driving warrants huge switch-up on essential company strategy
It appears most people are pretty content with the subscription program. It costs just $99 a month, in comparison to the $8,000 fee it is for the outright purchase.
Tesla Full Self-Driving has warranted a huge switch-up on an essential company strategy as the automaker is hoping to increase the take rate of the ADAS suite.
Unlike other automotive companies, Tesla has long been an outlier, as it has famously ditched a traditional advertising strategy in favor of organic buzz, natural word-of-mouth through its production innovation, and utilizing CEO Elon Musk’s huge social media presence to push its products.
Tesla has taken the money that it would normally spend on advertising and utilized it for R&D purposes. For a long time, it yielded great results, and ironically, Tesla saw benefits from other EV makers running ads.
Tesla counters jab at lack of advertising with perfect response
However, in recent years, Tesla has decided to adjust this strategy, showing a need to expand beyond its core enthusiast base, which is large, but does not span over millions and millions as it would need to fend off global EV competitors, which have become more well-rounded and a better threat to the company.
In 2024 and 2025, Tesla started utilizing ads to spread knowledge about its products. This is continuing, as Full Self-Driving ads are now being spotted on social media platforms, most notably, X, which is owned by Musk:
NEWS: Tesla is running paid advertisements on X about FSD (Supervised). Here’s an ad they started running yesterday: pic.twitter.com/IHVywLMyTd
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) November 25, 2025
Interestingly, Tesla’s strategy on FSD advertising is present in Musk’s new compensation package, as the eleventh tranche describes a goal of achieving 10 million active paid FSD subscriptions.
Full Self-Driving is truly Tesla’s primary focus moving forward, although it could be argued that it also has a special type of dedication toward its Optimus robot project. However, FSD will ultimately become the basis for the Robotaxi, which will enable autonomous ride-sharing across the globe as it is permitted in more locations.
Tesla has been adjusting its advertising strategy over the past couple of years, and it seems it is focused on more ways to spread awareness about its products. It will be interesting to see if the company will expand its spending even further, as it has yet to put on a commercial during live television.
We wouldn’t put it out of the question, at least not yet.
Tesla Giga Berlin is still ramping production to meet Model Y demand: plant manager
Tesla launches crazy Full Self-Driving free trial: here’s how you can get it
