BYD Announces Record Annual Profit For 2023

The Chinese battery and automotive giant BYD reported record profits in 2023, despite intense competition in the nation as demand for electric vehicles rises, according to its annual results released on Tuesday.

The Shenzhen-based company is currently expanding rapidly abroad as a result of the ongoing price war in China, the largest automotive market in the world. These countries include Southeast Asia, as well as further afield in Latin America and Europe.

For the record, in the fourth quarter of 2023, BYD surpassed Tesla to take the top spot in the global EV sales rankings.

According to a filing to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, the company reported a net profit of  $4.16 billion last year, up 80.7 percent year over year from 16.6 billion yuan in 2022 and an all-time high.

BYD started off specializing in the design and production of batteries, but in 2003 it started to expand into the automotive industry. BYD declared in April 2022 that it would only be producing hybrid and electric vehicles going forward, discontinuing production of gasoline-powered vehicles altogether.

With the tagline "Build Your Dreams," BYD became the first car company to sell five million hybrid and all-electric vehicles cumulatively last year.mOne of BYD's main Chinese rivals, XPeng, revealed last week that its 2023 net loss was $1.4 billion.

BYD announced earlier this year that it will be the first Chinese company to produce passenger cars in Europe when it opens its future EV factory in Hungary in three years.

The company made a daring attempt to challenge the dominant European automaker in the automotive industry by sending about 3,000 cars to Germany in February via one of its eight customized cargo ships.

Locally, the eagerly anticipated premium electric vehicle (EV) from BYD Cars Malaysia has finally made its way to the dealerships last month. Prices for the RWD Premium and Performance AWD versions of the BYD Seal start at RM179,800 and RM199,800, respectively.