Jan 30 (Reuters) - China's BYD Co , the world's biggest seller of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrids, expects its 2022 net profit to be more than five times the amount it booked a year earlier, it said on Monday.
With sales of 1.86 million cars, it expects a net profit of 16-17 billion yuan ($2.37-$2.52 billion) versus 3 billion in 2021, an exchange filing showed.
The company said it had it achieved strong sales growth and significantly improved profitability and had "effectively relieved the cost pressure brought about by the rising upstream
raw material prices".
The Shenzhen-based automaker stopped producing combustion engine vehicles last April.
Sales of its Qin and Han sedans, BYD's best-selling models, increased by 82.6% and 132.2%, respectively, in 2022, while those of Tesla's Model 3 fell by 17.5%, according to the China Passenger Car Association.
BYD still trails Tesla (TSLA.O) in terms of global sales of fully electric cars by almost 400,000 units, though the Chinese company is planning to ramp up sales quickly at home and abroad with its new series of BEV products such as its Seal model.
($1 = 6.7498 Chinese yuan renminbi)
