HONG KONG -- Chinese carmaker BYD said Monday its net profit surged about 380% on the year to 2.26 billion yuan ($340 million) in the January-June period, citing brisk sales of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids on the back of government subsidies to promote green cars.
Sales grew 43.7% to 43.74 billion yuan. Of that amount, automobiles accounted for 23.3 billion yuan, up 37.9%. Mobile phone-related business brought in 16.2 billion yuan, an increase of 44.5%, and lithium-ion batteries and batteries for solar panels generated 4 billion yuan, up 84.7%.
