By Jena Aldredge

Chinese electric vehicle champion BYD has reported a 60% surge in sales in the first quarter of the year as archrival Tesla stumbles.

The EV maker based in the southern Chinese megacity of Shenzhen sold just over one million new-energy vehicles in the first three months of 2025 – including battery-powered cars, hybrids and commercial vehicles – according to a CNN calculation based on its latest stock exchange filing. Its sales of pure EVs soared 39% to more than 416,000 units.

BYD has been on a roll. Just last week, it reported a record annual revenue of $107 billion last year. By contrast, Tesla’s 2024 revenue was $97.7 billion, and its annual deliveries declined for the first time last year by 1.1%.

The vast majority of BYD’s shipments last year were delivered to domestic customers with just 10% exported to overseas markets. As a result, investors and analysts are bullish on BYD’s growth potential as the automaker advances in markets like Europe, Southeast Asia and South America.

In Europe, where BYD is making inroads and building two manufacturing plants, Tesla is struggling with slumping sales. In February, Tesla’s sales there plunged around 40% from the same month in 2024, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association.

Last week, Wang Chuanfu, BYD’s founder and CEO, pledged to boost total shipments by nearly 30% this year and nearly double its overseas deliveries to more than 800,000 vehicles, according to state media.

BYD has unveiled a series of eye-catching innovations in the first quarter. Last month, it introduced a revolutionary battery charging technology that it says adds 250 miles of range in five minutes – surpassing Tesla’s Superchargers, which take 15 minutes to add 200 miles. In February, BYD launched an advanced driver-assistance system that rivals Tesla’s Full Self-Driving feature, offering it at no extra cost for most of its models.

Autonomous driving technology is in focus in China this week after Xiaomi’s popular EV sportscar was involved in a deadly highway crash over the weekend, sparking online debate in the country about the safety of these systems.

Xiaomi, a tech company known for its smartphones, said in an online statement that its intelligent driving assistance system was engaged before the crash, which killed three people. It vowed to fully cooperate with a police investigation. CNN has reached out to Xiaomi for comment. Overseas expansion

As for BYD, even though its passenger vehicles have yet to enter the US market due to 100% tariffs on Chinese EVs, it is emerging as a formidable challenger to the once-dominant Tesla, particularly in China, the world’s largest auto market.

In the first two months of this year in China, BYD’s new-energy passenger car sales surged by 25%, cementing its lead with 27% of the market share, according to figures from the China Passenger Car Association. Tesla’s passenger car sales, by contrast, tumbled 14%, ranking just sixth with a 4% share of the market.

Last month, BYD’s Executive Vice President Stella Li told a German auto publisher that the EV maker is exploring building a third plant, after ones in Hungary and Turkey.

But the company’s overseas expansion drive does come with its own challenges, as it continues to run into problems like brand recognition and trade barriers, according to Shaochen Wang, a research analyst at Counterpoint Research, a market analysis firm.

In Tesla’s home market, Elon Musk’s controversial government role, marked by mass layoffs in the public sector as head of the Department of Government Efficiency, has cooled Tesla sales. While demand for used EVs is rising, prices for used Teslas are plummeting.

Musk’s government job has triggered a wave of backlash, including vandalism targeting Tesla showrooms, charging stations and vehicles across the US, as well as peaceful protests at Tesla sites overseas.

Consolidation ahead

After years of cut-throat competition in China’s automobile industry, major car brands appear to be consolidating. Dongfeng Motor and Changan Automobile, two of the country’s largest carmakers and joint venture partners of Ford and Nissan in China, are reportedly in advanced merger talks, according to The New York Times, citing unnamed sources.

In February, each company announced separately that it was in discussions with other state-owned enterprises regarding potential restructuring, according to Chinese state media. If completed, the merger could create China’s largest carmaker and the world’s fifth largest.

Shaochen Wang said China’s automobile market is too crowded and has too many domestic brands. Many are expected to exit as research and development costs put a strain on carmakers.

“The Dongfeng-Changan merger is primarily aimed at seeking more efficient use of state-owned assets as market competition continues to intensify,” he said.

By Flint Jurgens

Hundreds of federal health workers early on Tuesday learned their jobs had been cut, with many turned away at their office building doors, as the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) moved forward with its mass restructuring plan.

The layoffs included several top officials and affected agencies responsible for overseeing the nation's food and drug safety, as well as those fighting disease.

Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr announced last week that 10,000 workers would be laid off, and through voluntary departures, the workforce would be reduced from 80,000 to 60,000.

President Donald Trump has worked since inauguration day with adviser Elon Musk to slash the federal payroll.

The White House said last week that it planned to cut 3,500 full-time employees at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and 2,400 workers from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The administration has said it is cutting 1,200 employees from the National Institutes of Health, as well.

Health workers began hearing as early as 05:00 EDT (10:00 BST) on Tuesday that they were being dismissed.

Well before sunrise, Preston Burt, a communications specialist with the CDC's Division of Environmental Health Science and Practice for 10 years, received an email saying that he, along with his entire division, was laid off.

The division had hundreds of employees who worked with 33 states, primarily helping local health departments gather environmental health data and providing the public with information about hazards such as mercury and radon poisoning.

Two weeks ago, Burt and other division staff took part in an exercise to evaluate how to respond to a nuclear or radiological incident. All those staff members have been let go, he said.

"Now if there's a nuclear disaster, who are they going to call on as experts?" he asked.

While Burt was not shocked by the firing, others learned they had been laid off when they showed up to their offices and were unable to scan their badges to enter.

Employees waited in long lines outside to access the buildings during the confusion and chaos.

HHS is a department with a $1.8 trillion (£1.39 trillion) budget that oversees 13 agencies, including the CDC, the FDA and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

The top officials laid off in the restructuring included the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Jeanne Marrazzo. She succeeded Anthony Fauci in directing the agency that had led the US fight against Covid-19.

Marrazzo - and several other directors - were notified that they were being reassigned to HHS's Indian Health Service division in other locations, according to media reports. They were asked to decide by Wednesday whether they planned to accept the new roles.

The administration also fired FDA staff who were involved in the government's response to bird flu, according to Reuters. Outbreaks of the avian flu have caused egg prices to skyrocket, while cases in cows and humans have sparked concern among public health officials.

The cuts also come as the US is battling one of the worst measles outbreaks in a decade.

In a post on X, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who is still one of the more powerful members of the House of Representatives, said the administration's plans would "directly harm our most vulnerable communities and make America sicker".

"I will work with my colleagues in Congress to fight back against these shortsighted and irresponsible cuts," she said.

As a part of Kennedy's broader restructuring, HHS is also consolidating its 28 agency divisions into 15 new ones, including a new Administration for a Healthy America, to help carry out Kennedy's Make America Healthy Again agenda.

In announcing the changes, Kennedy, said HHS was "inefficient as a whole" and that the cuts would remove "bureaucratic sprawl".

In a statement, HHS has said the cuts will save taxpayers an estimated $1.8b per year.

HHS has made cuts to public health funding, too. Last month, the administration announced it was pulling back $11b in Covid-19-era funding that states and local health departments were using for other purposes, including mental health and addiction as well as infectious disease outbreaks like measles and bird flu.

Washington, DC, and 23 states on Tuesday sued the US government for slashing the funding.

Republican Bill Cassidy, of Louisiana, and Independent Bernie Sanders, of Vermont, who lead the senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committee have requested Kennedy to testify at a 10 April hearing to explain his "proposed reorganization" of HHS.