Staffers work at the auto assembly production lines of BYD Xi’an new energy industrial base in Xi’an, Northwest China’s Shaanxi Province, on February 25, 2020. Photo: Xinhua

 
Chinese automaker BYD revealed a record quarterly profit in their third-quarter report late Monday. The company reported a net profit of 10.4 billion yuan ($1.4 billion), up 82 percent year-on-year.

Boosted by growing demand in both the domestic and foreign markets, five of China's top automakers posted a combined revenue of 487.25 billion yuan. Among them, SAIC Group remained the largest automaker with 196.79 billion yuan in revenue, followed by BYD with 162.15 billion yuan.

Despite increased competition, BYD achieved rapid growth in both revenue and growth margin. From July to September, the Shenzhen-based company logged a gross margin of 22.12 percent, surpassing its major competitor, Tesla.

As an automobile manufacturer, BYD also possesses battery production lines, which helps the company to reduce costs. Its booming sales have helped BYD realize profit growth, Jia Xinguang, a veteran car industry observer, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

With 824,001 vehicles sold, BYD is now close to the Japanese automaker Nissan, whose global car sales reached 824,354 in the third quarter, according to a report posted by Nikkei Asia.

Despite the challenges posed by electric vehicles, petrol vehicles still dominate the market. New energy vehicles (NEVs) still need to address certain issues, including battery life and safety, to compete in the automobile market. Even though BYD has approached or even surpassed many traditional car companies in terms of sales, said Jia.

BYD sold about twice as many NEVs as Tesla in the third quarter.

Excluding hybrid electric vehicles, BYD is still neck-and-neck with the industry giant Tesla in terms of sales. From July to September, BYD sold 431,603 electric cars, slightly behind Tesla’s number of 435,059.

Chinese carmakers accounted for 35 percent of the world's auto market share in September 2023, with a cumulative share of 32 percent in the first nine months of this year, citing a report posted by Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the China Passenger Car Association.