BYD posts record Q4 profit

Full-year net profit was 3.79 billion, ahead of the average forecast of 3.23 billion yuan given to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S from 13 analysts, and up sharply from 1.02 billion yuan a year earlier. Turnover jumped 47 percent to 39.5 billion yuan during the period, the statement said.

DAIMLER TIES

China has been the major bright spot for carmakers amid a global industry downturn thanks to Beijing's economic stimulus measures, which include deep sales tax cuts for small cars.

BYD is among the major beneficiaries of the incentives. Its F3 was the best-selling car in China last year, beating popular domestic and foreign models, such as Hyundai Motor's Elantra and Chery Automobile's QQ.

The company is headed by Wang Chuanfu, a studious, soft-spoken entrepreneur who in his early days would dismantle rival's batteries to understand how they worked.

The company, a front runner among Chinese carmakers in clean energy vehicles, earlier this month agreed to team up with Daimler AG to develop electric cars for the Chinese market.

Analysts hailed the deal as further validation of BYD's leadership in battery technology and electric vehicles.

In May last year the automaker signed a memorandum of understanding with Volkswagen AG for a hybrid and electric vehicles partnership, but has yet to announce details.

The stock gained 7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009 and has been largely flat so far in 2010 compared with a 5 percent decline in the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index of major Chinese companies listed in Hong Kong.