Chinese EV giant BYD Co Ltd (OTC:BYDDY) (OTC:BYDDF) on Wednesday reported a net profit of $11.6 billion yuan ($1.63 billion) for the third quarter, marking a growth of 11.5% from the corresponding period last year.

What Happened: Operating revenue of BYD rose 24% in the period to 201.12 billion yuan ($28.25 billion), the company said in a filing.

BYD's American rival Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) reported a total revenue of only $25.18 billion in the same quarter, making this the first time since 2022 that BYD has trumped Elon Musk's EV giant in quarterly revenue. BYD stopped making combustion engine vehicles in March 2022 to focus on electric vehicles.

BYD, however, sells plug-in hybrids in addition to battery electric vehicles. Tesla, on the other hand, sells only battery-powered electric vehicles.

BYD sold 1.13 million vehicles worldwide in the third quarter with BEVs accounting for 443,426 of it. Tesla, however, trumped BYD in battery electric vehicle sales with 462,890 units delivered in the period.

Why It Matters: In the last quarter of 2023, BYD had trumped Tesla in BEV sales and its revenue for the period closed in on Tesla's but missed narrowly. The American EV giant reclaimed the title of the world's best-selling BEV maker in the first quarter of 2024 and has been holding on to it since.

Despite reporting higher revenue than Tesla in the third quarter, BYD's net profit continues to trail behind Tesla's net income of $2.167 billion. The company reported a diluted earnings per share of 4 yuan (56 cents) for the quarter, lower than Tesla's adjusted earnings per share of 72 cents.

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