China-based BYD, backed by Warren Buffett, said on Monday the company’s net profit is expected to quadruple in the third quarter as it maintains its growth momentum after overtaking Tesla as the world’s largest electric vehicle maker in terms of sales earlier this year.
BYD expects record net income of Rmb5.5-5.9 billion ($764-820 million) for the three-month period, a 333-365% year-on-year increase another, citing sales of rugged electric vehicles and better cost control thanks to the end of its mobile phone unit.
Shares of the Hong Kong-listed company rose more than 6% in trading on Tuesday.
Electric vehicles are an increasingly important mainstay for the Shenzhen-based conglomerate. Cars and related products accounted for 73% of BYD’s total revenue in the first half of the year, according to the company’s interim report.
Due to China’s growing demand for cleaner cars, BYD saw its total sales of new energy passenger vehicles, which included plug-in hybrids, pure battery and hydrogen models, increase by 194.37% year-on-year to reach 538,704 units in the July-September quarter. This compares to the 343,000 pure electric cars sold by Tesla.
According to the China Passenger Car Association, BYD took 29.7 percent of China’s new-energy vehicle market in the year to September, 21 percentage points ahead of next-placed competitor SAIC-GM-Wuling.
The company is also venturing into overseas markets with its lower cost models. BYD has made inroads into India, Laos and Jordan in recent weeks and picked Thailand for its first fully-invested passenger car plant outside of China last month.
