Chinese EV giant BYD says annual net profit down 19%

2026-03-27 - 13:51

BYD has emerged in recent years as the clear leader in China’s highly competitive EV market, which is the largest in the world. (Reuters pic) BEIJING: Chinese electric vehicle giant BYD said on Friday its annual net profit in 2025 was down 19% compared to a year earlier as it battled sluggish domestic spending while looking to expand overseas. BYD’s net profit attributable to shareholders last year was 32.6 billion yuan (US$4.7 billion), down from 40.3 billion yuan in 2024, the company said in a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. BYD – which adopts the English slogan “Build Your Dreams” – has emerged in recent years as the clear leader in China’s highly competitive EV market, which is the largest in the world. China’s EV industry is world-leading but a cutthroat domestic market has weighed on companies’ profitability, with many, including BYD turning to overseas markets in response. Scrutiny of the EV market is also growing, with a top industry group last May rebuking Chinese automakers for fuelling a price war, a week after BYD announced sweeping trade-in discounts. The recent slowdown comes after a period of sustained, intense growth, and BYD’s profit in the first quarter of 2025 was a record for the company in that reporting period. BYD recorded 804 billion yuan in revenue last year, up a modest 3.5% compared to 2024. In 2024, its annual revenue surpassed that of its American rival Tesla and crossed the symbolic US$100 billion mark, at 777 billion yuan. BYD’s overseas bid has appeared to be gathering pace. In September, it sold more than 13,000 units in EU countries, a year-on-year increase of 272.1%, according to a report by the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association.