Chinese EV giant BYD just released its 2023 annual profit report, and it looks like it missed analyst estimates by a smidge, netting $4.16 billion (30.04 billion yuan) compared to the estimated $4.29 billion (30.94 billion yuan). Still, the company reported a more than 80% rise in net profit last year, so it is showing no signs of slowing down. According to annual figures , BYD reported an 18.6% rise in fourth-quarter profit, its slowest since the first quarter of 2022, reports , likely due to the price war that started heating up late last year. Net profit totaled 8.67 billion yuan ($1.20 billion) in the fourth quarter, on a 15.1% jump in revenue to 180.04 billion yuan. For the whole of 2023, the new-energy automobile maker saw net profit increase 80.7% to 30.04 billion yuan, Reuters reports. In late January, the Shenzhen-based automaker flagged a preliminary profit forecast of 29 billion yuan to 31 billion yuan. BYD famously overtook
Tesla in the last quarter of last year to become the world’s largest seller of EVs, but that the Lunar New Year holiday in
China could likely prevent the company from holding the title for the first three months of this year, in that its sales are concentrated in China. In total, BYD sold 3.02 million electric and hybrid vehicles last year, including 942,000 in the final quarter to meet its annual target. BYD alone sold last year, coming close to Tesla’s 1.8 million overall BEV sales. This year, the automaker has made some aggressive price cuts in China, slashing prices on its range to lure drivers from gas-powered cars to EVs. Its marketing slogan is that “new era of electricity is cheaper than
Oil.” BYD has cut prices on more than 100 of its existing models since the end of last year, while also relaunching new 70 model trims with reduced prices. The Seagull hatchback, for example, sells for 69,800 yuan, or , inciting fear across the industry. is also currently expanding its presence in Europe by launching its best-selling , with more models coming soon. The company plans to in Europe by 2025. and subscribe to the . Jennifer is a writer and editor for Electrek. Based in
France, she has worked previously at Wired, Fast Company, and Agence France-Presse. Send comments, suggestions, or tips her way via X (@JMossalgue) or at jennifer@9to5mac.com.