Media365
The world’s bestselling power battery maker for nine years in a row, CATL in March reported a net profit of 72.2 billion yuan (US$10.6 billion) for last year, up 42 per cent from a year earlier.
The figure is only 8 per cent lower than the combined profits of China’s top four listed carmakers – BYD, Chery, Geely Auto and SAIC – which reported net income of 78.6 billion yuan. CATL earned 2 per cent more profit than the 70.59 billion yuan made by the country’s 11 listed carmakers, including smaller and loss-making players.
“The EV battery industry, with its high requirement for safety, technology and economies of scale, has formed a higher concentration than downstream car manufacturing, where different companies with different backgrounds have been drawn into much fiercer competition,” said Paul Gong, head of China auto research at UBS.
The top three players hold more than 70 per cent of the total market for EV batteries and about 35 per cent in the passenger vehicle segment.
