BYD sold more pure battery electric vehicles than Tesla for the first time last month, a "watershed moment" for the region's car market, JATO Dynamics said.

BYD Co. sold more electric vehicles in Europe than Tesla Inc. for the first time, overtaking the American brand that long led the continent’s EV segment.

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.