Yeah, well

It is, on paper a private company

But you need to understand this is China. BYD is extremely heavily subsidized by the Chinese government. For example, this 2016 article https://www.forbes.com/sites/mclifford/2016/07/26/with-a-lit... mentions

> In the five years ending December 31, 2015, the company reported receiving a total of 2.9 billion yuan ($435 million) in government support.

and that's just the reported support, there are tricks the government can play with for example labor costs, transferring R&D and so forth.