BYD's net profit attributable to shareholders last year was 32.6 billion yuan ($4.7 billion), down from 40.3 billion yuan in 2024, the company said in a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

BYD -- which adopts the English slogan "Build Your Dreams" -- has emerged in recent years as the clear leader in China's highly competitive EV market, which is the largest in the world.

China's EV industry is world-leading but a cutthroat domestic market has weighed on companies' profitability, with many including BYD turning to overseas markets in response.

Scrutiny of the EV market is also growing, with a top industry group last May rebuking Chinese automakers for fuelling a price war, a week after BYD announced sweeping trade-in discounts.

The recent slowdown comes after a period of sustained, intense growth, and BYD's profit in the first quarter of 2025 was a record for the company in that reporting period.

BYD recorded 804 billion yuan in revenue last year, up a modest 3.5 percent compared to 2024.

In 2024, its annual revenue surpassed that of its American rival Tesla and crossed the symbolic $100 billion mark, at 777 billion yuan.

BYD's overseas bid has appeared to be gathering pace.

In September, it sold more than 13,000 units in European Union countries, a year-on-year increase of 272.1 percent, according to a report by the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association.