BYD flags huge quarterly profit jump as China sales surge past Tesla
BYD Co (DE.BY6), China's biggest electric car maker, said third-quarter net profit likely more than quadrupled as it extends its sales lead over Tesla Inc (US.TSLA) in the world's largest auto market. Shares in BYD jumped. Having ditched gasoline vehicles from its product mix this year, BYD has, more than any other automaker, been able to capitalise on a range of incentives for electric cars offered by the Chinese central government as well as local governments.
BYD's combined sales of pure electric and hybrid plug-in vehicles increased 250% in the first nine months to 1.2 million units, outpacing a 110% rise for the overall EV segment. By comparison, Tesla sold just over 318,000 electric vehicles in China during the first nine months of the year. Among domestic EV rivals, XPeng Inc and Nio Inc (US.NIO) - both loss-making - sold more than 98,500 and over 31,600 respectively. BYD said its huge jump in vehicle sales had relieved the pressure brought on by increases in raw materials costs, though it did raise prices on some models by as much as 6,000 yuan.