Tesla slips outside CAM's top 10 EV innovators for the first time as Geely, Volkswagen and BYD lead

Tesla drops out of the top ten as Chinese and German groups lead

Tesla has fallen from sixth to eleventh place in the Center of Automotive Management's electromobility innovation ranking, missing the top ten for the first time since the study launched in 2016, when the US maker still held first place. WELT, reporting the latest Electromobility Report from the Bergisch Gladbach institute, says Geely remains the strongest electric innovator with 207 index points, narrowly ahead of the Volkswagen Group on 204 and BYD on 192. ²

Mercedes-Benz is the biggest climber, moving from seventh to fourth, with BMW fifth - three German groups within the top five. Tesla's decline continues a pattern CAM had already flagged in its earlier electromobility assessment, which noted the pioneer had produced relatively few electric innovations in recent years while Chinese and German competitors surged ahead. ²¹

Among Japanese groups the result is markedly weaker: Toyota manages only 15th, Nissan 18th and Honda 22nd, according to WELT's report of the ranking. ²

Germany closes the gap with China on electric innovation strength

CAM's own Electromobility Report materials describe a headline country-level finding alongside the group ranking: Germany has massively caught up with China on electromobility innovation strength. On a total global innovation base of 371 electric index points across series, pre-series and studies, Chinese OEMs currently account for 32.4 per cent, with Germany at 31.9 per cent - versus earlier years in which German makers claimed only just over 20 per cent while China exceeded 40 per cent. ¹

Study leader Stefan Bratzel said in the report's materials that German OEMs - BMW, Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz - currently show the highest innovation strength in pre-series innovations arriving during 2026, and that this left him optimistic about the future competitiveness of the German car industry in the BEV segment. CAM's methodology counts series, pre-series and studies in this country-level total, whereas the group ranking itself rests on series innovations only. ¹

How CAM assesses electric innovation

The updated assessment evaluated 910 series innovations from 38 automotive groups covering 2021 to mid-2026, scoring originality, technical progress and customer benefit, with range, charging speed and energy efficiency among the most important fields, WELT reports. The evaluation relates exclusively to battery-electric vehicles and their technical environment. ²

CAM's methodology, described in its own Electromobility Report materials, scores each innovation for maturity (series versus concept), originality (world first versus company first), customer benefit and degree of innovation. The central customer-relevant triad is range, consumption and charging power, supplemented by battery technology, charging control and first-time segment coverage. A series innovation must be orderable by end customers on at least one major market such as Europe, the USA, China or Japan. ¹

In its previous-year electromobility assessment covering 2020 to 2025 and 874 series innovations, CAM had placed Geely first on 209 points ahead of the Volkswagen Group (200) and BYD (171), with SAIC, BMW, Tesla, Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai, Renault and GM completing the top ten - underlining how quickly the order has shifted in the newer, mid-2026 cut-off study. ¹

Documented strengths behind the leaders

WELT reports that Mercedes scored on high ranges and bidirectional charging functions, while BYD set a new benchmark for passenger-car fast charging with charging power up to 1,500 kW. The Volkswagen Group stood out on efficiency, with the ID.3 Neo achieving up to 629 km of standardised range. Geely's earlier assessed strength included the Lotus Emeya's 450 kW charging record and the Zeekr Mix matching 450 kW with a 10-to-80 per cent charge in 10.5 minutes, per CAM's own report materials. ²¹

CAM had also credited BMW's Neue Klasse iX3 with up to 805 km of electric range plus an AI-supported automatically opening charge flap and Plug & Charge multi-contract management of up to ten charging contracts, and Renault's climb with vehicle-to-grid technology across the Renault 4 and Twingo E-Tech electric, each with an 11 kW AC bidirectional unit. ¹

A separate overall innovation ranking crowned BYD in April

CAM's broader AutomotiveINNOVATIONS Report 2026, released in April, saw BYD top the overall global automotive innovation ranking for the first time in the study series' history since 2005, with 157 points ahead of the Volkswagen Group (143) and Mercedes-Benz (134), according to Global Times reporting carried by People's Daily Online. XPeng, BMW and Geely Group followed on places four to six, with Renault, Toyota, GM and Hyundai completing the top ten. ³⁴

CAM director Stefan Bratzel said in an emailed statement to the Global Times that BYD's current dominance illustrated the industry upheaval and the technological leadership of Chinese corporations and volume brands. IAA Mobility's coverage of that April ranking noted BYD drew innovations particularly from battery technology and driver-assistance systems across its BYD, Yangwang and Denza brands, while the Mercedes-Benz brand remained the strongest premium maker, with the CLA credited for the lowest consumption, highest segment range and highest charging power in its class. ³⁴

Innovation strength and sales: a documented correlation with caveats

CAM's electromobility materials report a strong positive correlation (r = 0.73) between assessed innovation strength and BEV sales, with the top six innovators also the top six sellers across full-year 2025 and the first quarter of 2026. In the first quarter of 2026 Tesla regained the sales lead with roughly 360,000 BEVs ahead of BYD (310,000) and Geely (256,000), though BYD led full-year 2025 with 2.255 million units to Tesla's 1.636 million, according to CAM. ¹

The quarter-on-quarter picture was uneven. CAM reports that BYD's BEV sales fell 25 per cent year on year in the first quarter of 2026, Xpeng's dropped 33 per cent and BMW's 21 per cent, while Hyundai (+21 per cent) and Nio (+98 per cent) grew strongly. Tesla was the only top-five maker to increase sales, up 6.2 per cent, and CAM's Stefan Bratzel attributed the Chinese makers' declines partly to the expiry of purchase incentives in China alongside an increasingly saturated home market and price competition. ¹

WELT notes the mid-year picture for 2026: BYD sold about 867,000 pure electric cars in the first half, down 15 per cent but narrowly ahead of Tesla's 838,000, with Geely, SAIC and Volkswagen following - evidence, as the publication observes, that technological strength does not always translate immediately into sales. ²

The ranking is a global assessment of series technology in battery-electric vehicles; it is not a test or evaluation of Australian-market vehicles, and it establishes no direct implication for Australian availability, pricing or specification of any model named here. ²¹