BYD Reports Record Third-Quarter Profit On Surging Car Sales

BYD Co. anticipates a 67% increase in third-quarter profit due to record electric vehicle sales, Bloomberg reported.

The Warren Buffett-backed maker of electric vehicles and batteries said in an exchange filing late Tuesday that third-quarter net income could reach 11.5 billion yuan (US$1.6 billion), up from 5.7 billion yuan a year ago.

Profits for the nine months ended September 30 could range from 20.5 billion yuan to 22.5 billion yuan, exceeding net income of 16.6 billion yuan for all of 2022. "Despite the increasingly intense competition in the automobile industry in the third quarter," BYD said, sales volume of new-energy vehicles reached a new high.

BYD announced earlier this month that its total vehicle sales nearly doubled to 2.08 million vehicles between January and September.

The automaker's success is bolstered by the fact that it also manufactures the batteries that power its electric and hybrid vehicles, as well as some of the semiconductor chips that go into them.

This increased manufacturing capability gives BYD greater control over parts of the supply chain, allowing it to perform better in terms of cost control.

In the three months ending September 30, BYD sold nearly as many fully electric vehicles as Tesla Inc., falling just 3,456 vehicles short of eclipsing Elon Musk's U.S. automaker.

BYD sold 822,094 vehicles, including hybrids, for another record quarter, helping to cement its position as China's best-selling car brand.

BYD's success comes at a time when sales of new-energy vehicles in China are slowing.

Retail sales of new-energy vehicles in the world's largest auto market increased 22.1% year on year to 746,000 units in September, according to data released last week by the Passenger Car Association (PCA).

However, as Chinese consumers cut back on their spending, more new-energy passenger cars are being exported.

According to PCA data, Chinese automakers shipped 91,000 clean vehicles abroad in September, including pure-electric and plug-in hybrids, a 107% increase from the previous year.