sold 94,941 pure electric vehicles in September, up 161.5 percent from 36,306 units in the same month last year.

BYD sold a record 201,259 new energy vehicles (NEVs) in September, the seventh consecutive month of record sales and the first time the number exceeded 200,000 units.

That's up 183.07 percent from 71,099 units in the same month last year and 15.06 percent from 174,915 units in August, according to the company's announcement today on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

BYD's NEVs include passenger cars as well as commercial vehicles, and they sold 200,973 units and 286 units in September, respectively.

Among these passenger vehicles, battery electric vehicle (BEV) sales were 94,941 units, up 161.5 percent from 36,306 units in the same month last year.

Plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) were 106,032 units, up 214.49 percent from 33,716 units in the same period last year.

In September, BYD sold 7,736 NEVs in overseas markets, up 51.92 percent from 5,092 units in August. The company first announced its overseas sales figures for NEVs in July.

BYD is currently increasing its efforts in international markets, having previously announced partnerships with local dealers in several countries.

On September 28, BYD launched three all-electric vehicles -- the Atto 3, Han, and Tang -- to the European market for delivery to local consumers in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany.

The BYD Atto 3 has a pre-order price of 38,000 euros ($36,300) in Germany. The pre-sale price for both the BYD Han and Tang is €72,000.

BYD stopped production and sales of vehicles powered entirely by internal combustion engines in March.

From January to September, BYD's cumulative NEV sales were 1,180,054 units, up 249.56 percent from 337,579 units in the same period last year.

BYD's year-to-date sales of pure electric passenger cars were 582,129 units, up 214.45 percent from 185,124 units in the same period last year, and plug-in hybrid passenger cars were 593,192 units, up 307.21 percent from 145,674 units in the same period last year.

In the third quarter, BYD sold 538,704 NEVs, up 194.37 percent from 183,000 units in the same period last year and up 51.74 percent from 355,021 units in the second quarter.

For BYD, the increasing record sales represent an increase in its production capacity, as it has a huge backlog of orders.

On September 2, local media Yiche quoted BYD chairman and president Wang Chuanfu as saying in a conference call that the company will aim to achieve a monthly delivery of 280,000 units by the end of the year.

BYD has a backlog of 700,000 units and the current waiting time for consumers who have placed orders to get deliveries is 4-5 months, Wang said at the time.

In addition to being the largest NEV maker in China, BYD is also the second largest power battery manufacturer in the country.

BYD's installed capacity of power batteries and energy storage batteries in September was about 8.610 GWh, up 104.80 percent from 4.204 GWh in the same month last year and up 13.99 percent from 7.553 GWh in August.

So far this year, BYD's installed battery capacity was about 57.49 GWh, up 145.36 percent from 23.43 GWh in the same period last year.