BANGKOK (AP) — Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD logged a record 777.1 billion yuan ($107 billion) in revenue last year as its sales of battery electric and hybrid vehicles jumped 40%.
The report late Monday coincided with BYD’s launch earlier this week of its Qin L EV sedan, a mid-sized model similar to Tesla's Model 3 but at just over half the price. Tesla’s 2024 revenue was nearly $97.7 billion.
BYD’s net profit last year was about 40 billion yuan ($5.6 billion), up 34% from the year before.
Last week, the company announced it was rolling out a super fast EV charging system that it says is nearly as quick as a fill up at the pumps.
BYD’s Hong Kong-traded shares fell 3.2% on Tuesday, despite its upbeat earnings report.
The lion's share, nearly 80%, of BYD's sales last year were related to its automotive businesses. BYD reported it sold about 4.3 million pure electric and hybrid vehicles last year.
Nearly 29% of the company's sales were in markets outside Greater China, including Hong Kong and Taiwan, last year, up slightly from 27% the year before.
The automaker has rapidly expanded its exports, though it has yet to try to sell in the U.S., where U.S. President Donald Trump has pledged to raise tariffs on car imports. BYD faces a 17% tariff on exports of EVs to the European Union.
FILE - A display shows how the dual-mode electric S6DM sport utility vehicle from Chinese automaker BYD can be plugged into a charging station to recharge its onboard batteries, at the North American International Auto Show on Monday, Jan. 10, 2011, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Tony Ding, File)
FILE - Visitors check the China made BYD ATTO 3 at the IAA motor show in Munich, Germany, on Sept. 8, 2023. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader, File)
BOSTON (AP) — Harvard University announced Monday that it has filed suit to halt a federal freeze on more than $2.2 billion in grants after the institution said it would defy the Trump administration’s demands to limit activism on campus activism on campus.
In a letter to Harvard earlier this month, the Trump administration had called for broad government and leadership reforms at the university as well as changes to its admissions policies. It also demanded that the university audit views of diversity on campus, and stop recognizing some student clubs.
Harvard President Alan Garber said the university would not bend to the government’s demands. Hours later, the government froze billions of dollars in federal funding.
“The Government has not — and cannot — identify any rational connection between antisemitism concerns and the medical, scientific, technological, and other research it has frozen that aims to save American lives, foster American success, preserve American security, and maintain America’s position as a global leader in innovation,” the university wrote in its lawsuit, filed in Boston federal court.
“Nor has the Government acknowledged the significant consequences that the indefinite freeze of billions of dollars in federal research funding will have on Harvard’s research programs, the beneficiaries of that research, and the national interest in furthering American innovation and progress,” it added.
The Trump administration did not immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press requesting comment.
In its letter dated April 11, the administration told Harvard to impose tougher discipline on protesters and to screen international students for those who are “hostile to the American values.”
It also called for broad leadership reforms at the university, changes to admissions policies and the removal of college recognition for some student clubs. The government also demanded Harvard audit its faculty and student body to ensure wide viewpoints in every department and, if necessary, diversify by admitting additional students and hiring new faculty.
Last Monday, Harvard said it would not comply, citing the First Amendment. The following day, Trump took to his Truth Social platform, questioning whether the university should lose its tax-exempt status “if it keeps pushing political, ideological, and terrorist inspired/supporting ‘Sickness?’”
The Trump administration also threatened to block the university from enrolling international students.
The university frames the government’s demands as a threat not only to the Ivy League school but to the autonomy that the Supreme Court has long granted American universities.
For the Trump administration, Harvard presents the first major hurdle in its attempt to force change at universities that Republicans say have become hotbeds of liberalism and antisemitism.
The conflict is straining the longstanding relationship between the federal government and universities that use federal money to fuel scientific breakthroughs. Long seen as a benefit to the greater good, that money has become an easy source of leverage for the Trump administration.
“Today, we stand for the values that have made American higher education a beacon for the world,” Garber wrote Monday to the Harvard community.
“We stand for the truth that colleges and universities across the country can embrace and honor their legal obligations and best fulfill their essential role in society without improper government intrusion,” he wrote. “That is how we achieve academic excellence, safeguard open inquiry and freedom of speech, and conduct pioneering research—and how we advance the boundless exploration that propels our nation and its people into a better future.”
Gecker reported from San Francisco. Associated Press writer Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed.
Students, faculty and members of the Harvard University community rally, Thursday, April 17, 2025, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo)
Students, faculty and members of the Harvard University community rally, Thursday, April 17, 2025, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Students, faculty and members of the Harvard University community rally, Thursday, April 17, 2025, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo)
