BYD Co., China’s top maker of electric cars, said it expects net income for the third quarter may come in as high as 11.5 billion yuan ($1.6 billion) despite slowing growth in sales of new-energy vehicles across the country.
(Bloomberg) — BYD Co., China’s top maker of electric cars, said it expects net income for the third quarter may come in as high as 11.5 billion yuan ($1.6 billion) despite slowing growth in sales of new-energy vehicles across the country.
Shenzhen-based BYD reported preliminary net income for the period that ended Sept. 30 of 9.55 billion yuan to 11.5 billion yuan, according to an exchange filing late Tuesday. Preliminary net income for the nine months may be between 20.5 billion yuan to 22.5 billion yuan, it said.
Read More: Tesla Sales Drop Brings BYD Closest Ever to Global EV Crown
The company attributed its strong third-quarter profit guidance to record sales in the period, despite intensifying competition, which it said it is offsetting by greater cost savings and efficiency gains.
BYD’s profit guidance for the third quarter puts the Chinese carmaking behemoth on course for its best-ever quarterly net income period. Its expected performance in the nine months through September will exceed net income for all of 2022 of 16.6 billion yuan.
One of the reasons underpinning BYD’s success is the fact it also makes the batteries that power its electric and hybrid cars, as well as some of the semiconductor chips that go in them. That added manufacturing prowess allows BYD to control greater parts of the auto supply chain, meaning it performs better when it comes to controlling costs.
Read More: China’s BYD Is Taking On the World EV Market — Except in America
In the three months to Sept. 30, BYD managed to sell almost as many fully electric vehicles as Tesla Inc., falling just 3,456 vehicles short of superseding the US automaker that’s run by Elon Musk.
Including hybrids, BYD sold a total 822,094 vehicles for another record quarter, helping to cement its lead as China’s best-selling car brand.
BYD’s strength comes as sales growth of new-energy cars in China more broadly is decelerating.
Retail sales of new-energy vehicles in the world’s biggest autos market rose 22.1% from a year earlier to 746,000 units in September, data from the Passenger Car Association showed last week.
But as consumers in China rein in spending, more new-energy passenger cars are being exported.
China-based automakers shipped 91,000 clean vehicles abroad in September, including pure-electric and plug-in hybrids, an increase of 107% from a year earlier, the PCA data showed.
Tesla ranked top with 30,566 units sent to overseas markets from its Shanghai factory, while it delivered 43,507 cars to local customers. Much of the remainder was driven by local automakers such as BYD and Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp.
(Updates to add context from 4th paragraph.)
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.