Record sales reported
Chinese EV maker BYD triples profit
08/28/2023 at 6:22 p.m
In October, BYD replaced China as the market leader in the People’s Republic. The carmaker is now reporting record figures for the first half of the year. At the same time, calculations suggest that even the industry leader cannot escape the price war on the mega market.
Record sales helped the Chinese electric car manufacturer BYD to jump in profits in the first half of the year. The company earned more than three times as much as a year ago. The bottom line is that the profit in the six months to the end of June was the equivalent of almost 1.3 billion euros, which is 204.7 percent more than in the previous year, as the company announced. Sales soared by more than 70 percent to around 33 billion euros.
The company, whose investors include Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, has massively expanded its market share in China and overtook Volkswagen as the leading automaker for the first time in October. Since then, BYD has held its own despite a raging price war and falling demand.
However, according to calculations, BYD also offers new vehicles up to a quarter cheaper than their predecessors. This is also noticeable in the figures: According to calculations, the increase in profits in the second quarter was lower than at the beginning of the year.
In terms of sales, BYD extended its lead over US rival Tesla in the first half of the year on its home market. BYD sold 29 percent more pure electric cars than Tesla, according to data from industry association CPCA. The affordable BYD Dolphin outsold the rival Tesla Model 3, which is set to be refreshed in September.
In China, a bitter price war for market share is raging for electric cars, which Tesla instigated at the beginning of the year. The US group was unable to stop the rise of Chinese brands, which accounted for more than 50 percent of sales in their home market for the first time in the first half of the year. However, according to Chinese industry data, Tesla was the only foreign brand able to expand its market share during this period.