EV giant BYD’s Q1 profit jumps five times to 4.13 billion yuan

    • BYD has unveiled its Seagull electric hatchback at the recent Shanghai car show, stunning visitors with a price from just 78,000 yuan – around half the level of the cheapest new energy vehicles available elsewhere.
    • BYD has unveiled its Seagull electric hatchback at the recent Shanghai car show, stunning visitors with a price from just 78,000 yuan – around half the level of the cheapest new energy vehicles available elsewhere. PHOTO: REUTERS
    Published Thu, Apr 27, 2023 · 08:23 PM

    CHINESE electric vehicle (EV) giant BYD posted a fivefold jump in its first-quarter profit on Thursday (Apr 27) as the company consolidated its leadership in the domestic market.

    Net profit for the first three months of the year was 4.13 billion yuan (S$796.8 million), up 410.9 per cent from 808.41 million yuan a year earlier, on revenue that went up 79.8 per cent to 120.17 billion yuan, the company said in a stock market filing.

    The Shenzhen-based company, whose investors include Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, outsold Volkswagen-branded cars in the first quarter of this year in China, according to a Reuters analysis of data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

    Buoyed by its Dynasty and Ocean series of plug-in hybrids and pure electric cars, BYD sold 552,076 new energy vehicles in the first quarter, a surge of 92.81 per cent year-on-year, said the company. It sold more than 1.86 million vehicles in 2022, mostly in China.

    BYD has joined many other Chinese brands in a price war started by Tesla, with the offering of discounts for its Song Plus and Seal EVs in March.

    The price cuts have eaten into carmakers’ earnings, with Tesla reporting a 24 per cent plunge in first-quarter net income.

    Last week, BYD unveiled its Seagull electric hatchback at the Shanghai car show, stunning visitors with a price from just 78,000 yuan – around half the level of the cheapest new energy vehicles available elsewhere. REUTERS

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