SHANGHAI, April 29 — Major Chinese electric carmaker BYD reported lower-than-expected revenue for the first quarter of 2024 today, as an aggressive domestic price war and Western regulatory pressure weighed on the company’s growth.
BYD posted an operating revenue of 124.94 billion yuan (RM82 billion) for the first three months of the year, up 3.97 per cent from a year ago, according to a stock exchange filing.
Bloomberg analysts had predicted a quarterly revenue of 132.53 billion yuan.
The Shenzhen-based company is moving quickly overseas — including into Southeast Asian countries but also further afield in Latin America and Europe — as a price war continues to be waged in China, the world’s largest automotive market.
BYD overtook Elon Musk’s Tesla in the fourth quarter of 2023 to become the world’s top seller of electric vehicles. Tesla reclaimed that title in the first quarter of this year, but BYD remains firmly on top in its home market.
The automaker recorded a record annual profit of 30 billion yuan last year. — AFP
