Chinese battery and automotive giant BYD achieved a record profit in 2023, annual results showed Tuesday, despite fierce competition in the country as demand for electric vehicles grows.

The Shenzhen-based company is now moving quickly overseas -- including into countries in Southeast Asia but also further afield in Latin America and Europe -- as a price war continues to be waged in China, the world's largest automotive market.

BYD overtook Elon Musk's Tesla in the fourth quarter of 2023 to become the world's top seller of EVs.

The firm recorded a net profit of 30 billion yuan ($4.16 billion) last year, according to a filing to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, up 80.7 percent year-on-year from 16.6 billion yuan in 2022, reaching an all-time high.

The figure is in line with a forecast issued by the firm in late January of 29-31 billion yuan.

Originally specialising in the design and manufacture of batteries, the company began diversifying into the automotive sector in 2003.

In April 2022, BYD announced it had ceased the production of cars powered solely by gasoline, instead focusing exclusively on hybrid and electric models.