Chinese battery and automotive giant BYD achieved a record profit in 2023, according to annual results releaed on Tuesday, despite fierce competition in the country as demand for electric vehicles grows.

The Shenzhen-based company is now expanding overseas as a price war continues 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 EVs.

The firm recorded a net profit of 30 billion yuan last year, according to a filing to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, up 80.7 percent year-on-year from 16.6 billion yuan in 2022, reaching an all-time high.

The figure is in line with a forecast issued by the firm in late January of 29-31 billion yuan.

Originally specialising in the design and manufacture of batteries, the company began diversifying into the automotive sector in 2003.

In April 2022, BYD announced it had ceased the production of cars powered solely by gasoline, instead focusing exclusively on hybrid and electric models.

BYD's biggest advantage it now holds over competitors is scale, Tu Le, founder and managing director of Sino Auto Insights, told AFP.

The firm's high production volume allows them to "aggressively price their vehicles and keep pressure on struggling EV startups and (original equipment manufacturers), including Tesla", said Le.

BYD, which adopts the English slogan "Build Your Dreams", last year became the first automaker to pass the milestone of five million hybrid and all-electric vehicles sold, cumulatively. (AFP)