China’s BYD gears up for global electric car race

AS the world’s largest auto show dazzled in Shanghai, Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD caught the limelight with the debut of several new models including an all-electric SUV marking the company’s fresh foray into the luxury market.

The showcase follows a year when BYD posted astonishing results, topping global electric vehicle (EV) makers with record sales of 1.8 million vehicles in 2022. It was the first year BYD abandoned fossil fuel car production and shifted completely to new-energy vehicles (NEVs).

The Warren Buffett-backed company posted 2022 revenue of 424 billion yuan (S$82.2 billion), almost double the previous year’s total, despite slower sales growth industrywide. Net profit reached 16.62 billion yuan, up more than four-fold year-on-year and equivalent to the sum of the previous five years, according to BYD’s late-March financial report.