BEIJING, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Chinese carmaker BYD Co Ltd , backed by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc, posted a 29 percent rise in first-half net profit on rising sales of its hybrid and electric vehicles.
Sales of its "new energy" vehicles more than doubled, BYD said in a statement to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Wednesday, helping to lift net profit to 466.7 million yuan ($72.81 million) in the first six months of the year, up from 360.7 million yuan a year earlier.
That matched the company's forecast in April for net profit between 400 million yuan and 480 million yuan.
The Shenzhen-based carmaker took in 31.6 billion yuan in revenue, up 18 percent year on year.
The company, which started out as a manufacturer of mobile phone batteries, began making cars in 2003 with a focus on hybrid and electric vehicles.
Its plug-in hybrid BYD Qin sedan is China's best-selling vehicle in a market segment that has benefited from the government's tightening standards on fuel economy, as well as subsidies and tax breaks for certain green energy vehicles. ($1 = 6.4095 Chinese yuan renminbi) (Reporting by Jake Spring; Editing by David Goodman)