Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer BYD Auto reported impressive first-half figures on Wednesday, bolstered by the increasing demand for new energy vehicles in China. The company posted a staggering 203.6 percent increase in profits for the first six months of the year compared to the same period last year.
The electric carmaker, backed by US investor Warren Buffet, managed to generate net profits of $205.29 million between January and June. This was a significant increase from its net profits of $67.66 million that was generated over the same period in 2018.
The Shenzhen-based manufacturer, which also produces plug-in hybrid vehicles, revealed that it managed to sell a total of 145,653 new energy vehicles in the first half of the year. The number of vehicles it sold had jumped by over 94.5 percent from the previous year.
Conversely, sales of the company's fossil fuel-powered vehicles went down by 44.9 percent. The radical shift has been seen as an indication of the increased interest of Chinese consumers towards more low-emission and efficient vehicles, even if they cost slightly more than their new energy counterparts.
In China, overall sales of new energy vehicles have risen by 49.6 percent in the first six months of 2019. There was a slight dip of 4.7 percent in July, but that was mostly due to the cutting of subsidies by the Chinese government for new energy vehicles.
Despite the cutting of the subsidies, interests in new energy vehicles have continued to rise. China's Association of Automobile Manufacturers has forecasted that total new energy vehicle sales in the country could reach 1.5 million units for 2019.
BYD is also well aware of the paradigm shift and has announced plans to completely move to electric-powered vehicles in the coming years. The company is of course still actively selling its plug-in hybrids, such as its Qin series of vehicles.
However, BYD is planning to slowly phase out these types of models in favor of fully-electric models it will be releasing in the future. Last month, the company revealed that it had partnered with Japan's Toyota Motor Corp to develop advanced battery electric vehicles, which will eventually become part of its portfolio of products down the road.
BYD revealed in its earnings report that it plans to launch several new models during the second half of the year. This will include fully electric models such the BYD e2 and e3, as well as, a revamped version of its popular Qin vehicles. The company stated that it expects to the new models to further drive its sales growth, which should further solidify its leading position within the industry.
