EV Sales At Warren Buffett-Backed BYD Quadrupled In August From Year Earlier

Sales of new energy vehicles at BYD, the China vehicle and battery maker backed by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, quadrupled in August from a year earlier, the latest in a series of reports that underscore brisk electric vehicle demand in the world’s largest auto market.

Shenzhen-headquartered BYD sold 61,409 new electric vehicles last month, compared with 15,283 a year earlier, the company said in a statement on Friday evening.  For the first eight months of the year, it sold 266,480 new energy vehicles, an increase of 192.6% from a year earlier.

The Chinese electric vehicle industry pioneer is up against a global chip shortage and intensifying competition from local newcomers such as NIO and XPeng as well as from China-invested Tesla. Net profit in the first six months of the year at BYD fell by 29% to 1.17 billion yuan, or $180 million, amid rising material costs, the company said last month. Revenue increased by 53.6% to 89.1 billion yuan.

BYD’s business is more diversified than its rivals – it also makes handset components and photovoltaics. Among its customers are Dell, Apple, Xiaomi and Huawei; its Hong Kong-traded shares have gained 240% in the past year and closed at HK$254.40 on Friday.

Wang is worth $21 billion on the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires List today.

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@rflannerychina