China’s electric-vehicle (EV) leader BYD reported a 32.6% fall in third-quarter profit, as slowing sales and price cuts in the domestic market offset its strong performance abroad. The Shenzhen-based company said its profit tumbled to CNY7.8 billion in the three months ended September, compared to CNY11.6 billion a year earlier, according to a statement filed with the Hong Kong and Shenzhen stock exchanges. Still, that represented a 22.6% increase from the CNY6.4 billion posted in the preceding three months. Quarterly revenue, meanwhile, slumped 3.1% year-on-year to CNY195 billion. “Falling sales in China and discounts offered to spur deliveries in the home market have pressured BYD to improve its profitability,” said Ivan Li, Fund Manager at Loyal Wealth Management in Shanghai. “Its robust sales abroad are not enough to offset its weak domestic performance.”
Controlled by Chinese billionaire Wang Chuanfu, BYD delivered a total of 1.11 million pure electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles in the third quarter, down 1.8% a year earlier and 2.7% lower quarter-on-quarter. The average EV discount reached a record 17.4% in June, according to a report earlier this month from JPMorgan, which analyzed data from 40 foreign and domestic car brands across 1,000 variants. The number fell to 16.7% in July, but remained relatively stable since then. China’s vehicle output – including buses, lorries and passenger cars – could reach 33 million units this year, compared with an estimated production capacity of about 50 million, according to Nick Lai, head of car research for Asia-Pacific at JPMorgan. In contrast, BYD’s overseas deliveries surged 146% to 232,806 units in the third quarter. The company forecast 800,000 to 1 million deliveries outside mainland China this year, compared with projected total sales of 4.6 million units, Li Yun, General Manager of branding and public relations, said last month.
BYD expected exports to constitute about 20% of its total sales this year, up from around 10% in 2024. Lai noted that Chinese EV makers could enjoy profit margins of CNY20,000 per unit abroad, four times higher than in the domestic market, on the back of better pricing overseas. BYD last month recorded a sales jump in Europe after launching more models and expanding its sales network, narrowing the gap with market leader Tesla. The Chinese carmaker in September recorded 24,963 new car registrations in Europe, nearly five times the 5,013 units it sold a year ago, according to data from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, as reported by the South China Morning Post.
