These 4 Chinese Automakers Have Higher Gross Profit Margin Than Tesla

Last Updated on: 19th July 2025, 03:43 am

Yes, story after story is coming out about the progress, innovations, and milestones being set by Chinese electric vehicle producers. That’s what happens when a country the size of China has reached more than 50% plugin vehicle market share. Actually, that achievement could stand for two things. Plugin vehicles account for more than 50% of all new auto sales in China, and Chinese EV sales account for about 50% of the world’s EV sales.

Anyway, with the Chinese EV market’s growth and success, many EV producers are benefiting. One thing that’s often said is that all of these Chinese EV producers are just losing money producing and selling these EVs. However, that’s not really the case. Chinese automakers are actually making money selling EVs.

An interesting article today from CarNewsChina highlighted how much gross profit margin several Chinese automakers are scoring. The article also highlighted, in the headline, that four of these companies now have higher gross profit margin than Tesla!

I guess it was actually Autohome which initially pulled the numbers together. To start with, though, since it’s not in the following table, note that Tesla’s gross profit margin was 16.3% in the 1st quarter of 2025 (its average across 2024 was 17.9%, which was down significantly from its 2023 average of 20.67%). See how that compares against the 10 Chinese automakers with the highest net profit:

So, somewhat surprisingly, Xpeng (15.6% gross profit margin) and Geely (15.8% gross profit margin) had gross profit margins nearly as high as Tesla’s (16.3%). (Note that Geely, as well as BYD and SAIC, also had higher net profit than Tesla.)

Perhaps more surprising is that four of these Chinese automakers had higher gross profit margins than Tesla. Seres, which is an electric vehicle brand from Seres Group, led the pack with 27.6% gross profit margin. (Note that Seres was previously named SF Motors.)

In second place you have the big dog, BYD. BYD has caught up to and quickly shot past Tesla in full electric vehicle (BEV) sales, and also sells a lot of plug-in hybrids. Despite common investor hype for Tesla and against BYD, BYD is also scoring better financials now. That includes a 20.7% gross profit margin compared to Tesla’s 16.3% gross profit margin. (Shhh, don’t tell TSLA investor fanboys who can’t accept that BYD has genuinely become a more innovative, more successful company.)

Then there’s Li Auto, which sells those giant extended-range electric SUVs that look a bit like Cadillac Escalades and is now starting to sell pure electric vehicles as well (more on that coming), came in second place with 20.5% gross profit margin.

As we can see, the top three automakers in this metric are fully plug-in vehicle companies. In 4th is GWM (Great Wall Motor), which is a broader automaker that sells many traditional fossil-powered cars, trucks, and SUVs. It got 17.8% gross profit margin in the 1st quarter.

All in all, I think it’s very important to highlight that Chinese EV producers are beginning to get healthy gross profit margins — even better than Tesla’s — and even net profit in a handful of cases. Xpeng is nearly at a net profit and has a healthy gross profit margin, Seres has a good net profit and a stunning gross profit margin, Li Auto has a good net profit and a great gross profit margin, and BYD, of course, leads the pack — by far — in net profit and also now has a healthy gross profit margin.

The world is changing — fast. Try to not be left in the dust with old data and misinformed talking points. Any other thoughts?

Featured image courtesy of Seres.