Chinese EV giant BYD Co Ltd (OTC:BYDDY) (OTC:BYDDF) hired over 200,000 people from August to October for car and components manufacturing and increased production by nearly 200,000 new energy vehicles, according to the company's Executive Vice President He Zhiqi said on Weibo on Saturday.

What Happened: According to BYD, the company made over 1.3 million NEVs in the three months from August to October, compared to nearly 900,000 units that it manufactured in the corresponding period of last year.

New energy vehicles refer to both battery-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids.

A whopping majority of the vehicles produced in the period were passenger plug-in hybrid vehicles. The company produced over 800,000 units of PHEVs in the period and nearly 500,000 battery-electric vehicles.

Why It Matters: For the third quarter between July and September, BYD's operating revenue rose 24% to 201.12 billion yuan ($28.25 billion), the company said in a filing late last month.

BYD's American rival Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) reported a total revenue of only $25.18 billion in the same quarter, making it the first time since 2022 that BYD has trumped Elon Musk's EV giant in quarterly revenue. BYD stopped making combustion engine vehicles in March 2022 to focus on electric vehicles.

Despite reporting higher revenue than Tesla in the third quarter, BYD's net profit continues to trail behind Tesla's net income of $2.167 billion. The company reported a diluted earnings per share of 4 yuan (56 cents) for the quarter, lower than Tesla's adjusted earnings per share of 72 cents.