BYD achieves record new energy vehicle sales in China for Q1 2021, strong 2020 net profit
BYD achieves 148 percent increase in NEV sales for Q1 2021
Chinese automaker BYD has had a strong sales start to 2021, with 53,380 passenger vehicle sales in the first quarter, comprising battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). That represents a 148 percent increase over the same period last year, where 21,520 new energy vehicles were sold.
2020 sales were obviously heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in China, but it’s important to see automakers in China returning to strong numbers, even in what is a traditionally quiet sales period after January’s pre-Chinese New Year sales rush.
March 2021 marks the seventh consecutive month of year-on-year growth for BYD’s new energy vehicle sales, and the company is continuing to innovate, with improvements to its in-house lithium iron phosphate (LFP) ‘Blade Battery’, including the claim of over 3,000 available charge cycles or 1.2 million kilometres from the new cells.
BYD’s revenue and profit soars in 2020
BYD has also posted annual revenue figures for 2020, and despite COVID-19, posted a revenue figure of 156.598 billion yuan ($23.87 billion USD). This represents an increase of 22.59 percent over 2019. Net profit attributable to shareholders also headed for the sky, with a 162.27 percent increase over 2019, to 4.234 billion yuan ($645.349 million USD).
All this despite the company’s 2020 output of new vehicles—including fossil fuel powered vehicles and commercial vehicles—declining 5.08% year over year:
BYD 2020 sales
Total new vehicle sales: 431,954 units (down 5.08%)
Total passenger vehicle sales: 394,608 units (down 3.62%)
Total new energy vehicle sales: 162,893 units (down 12.52%)
Total fossil fuel passenger vehicle sales: 231,715 units (up 3.81%)
Analysts have forecasted that BYD's net profit attributable to shareholders for the first quarter of 2021 is forecasted to reach 200 million to 300 million yuan ($30.482 million to $45.723 million USD), an increase of somewhere between 80 and 160 percent from the first quarter of 2020.
BYD is going from strength to strength, trouncing rivials NIO and Xpeng in sales volume (however both manufacturers also had strong first quarter results, despite lower volumes), and recently announcing a slew of new passenger vehicles for 2021 (which will exclusively use BYD’s in-house ‘blade battery’) and the expected unveiling of a new EV brand in the next few weeks.
The BYD Tang SUV interior. Image: BYD
Source: Gasgoo