BATTERY BUSINESS
CATL profit growth slows to 14.5% as battery competition bites
CATL’s third-quarter profit growth slowed to its weakest pace in nearly two years despite a 58.6% revenue increase. The battery maker gained global market share but lost ground in China, while announcing new heavy-duty truck batteries and plans to expand battery swapping.
BharatVox ·
China’s CATL reported a 14.5% year-on-year increase in third-quarter net profit to 21.2 billion yuan ($3.17 billion), its slowest profit growth in nearly two years, as competition intensified in the electric-vehicle battery market. Economic Times Markets reported the figures, citing the company’s stock exchange filing on Tuesday, October 20.
The result fell well short of the 41.2% profit increase expected in LSEG SmartEstimate data and marked a slowdown from the second quarter’s 36.5% growth. Revenue rose much faster than earnings: it increased 58.6% to 165.2 billion yuan, although that also missed the forecast growth of 60.2%. Revenue had risen 56.9% in the preceding quarter.
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CATL profit growth misses expectations
Reported year-on-year net profit growth in the preceding quarter.
Expected year-on-year net profit growth based on LSEG SmartEstimate data.
Reported year-on-year net profit growth, the slowest in nearly two years.
Global gains contrast with pressure in China
CATL, the world’s largest EV battery maker, expanded supplies to overseas automakers and increased its share of global EV battery usage. Industry figures cited in the report put its share at 39.4% in the first eight months of 2026, against 37.7% a year earlier. Second-ranked BYD’s share declined to 15.1% from 17.1% over the same period.
The domestic picture moved in the opposite direction. CATL’s share of China’s power battery installations fell from 49.8% in January to 40.9% in September, while BYD’s rose from 17.4% to 21.1%. These monthly domestic installation figures cover a different market and period from the global usage figures.
The earnings slowdown came against a difficult backdrop for Chinese vehicle manufacturers. China’s domestic auto market remained in a downturn for a 12th month in September, while exports continued to support industry growth as manufacturers pursued overseas markets.
Truck batteries and storage expansion
Alongside its earnings announcement, CATL unveiled a new generation of batteries for heavy-duty trucks and outlined plans to enlarge its battery-swapping network.
Energy storage is another area of planned expansion. The report cited Reuters’ June reporting that CATL expects storage to generate half of its global revenue by 2030, compared with roughly a quarter currently. That is a company expectation, rather than an achieved revenue mix.
Fact-check this story · Source: Economic Times Markets: China's CATL third-quarter profit growth slowest in nearly two years as competition intensifies. This AI-assisted account is based on the linked source, not independent on-the-ground reporting by BharatVox. Any opinion is separately labelled.
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