BYD Co. , China’s leading producer of electric cars, said its sales of the cutting-edge vehicles rose sixfold during the first half of the year, following moves by Beijing to encourage green cars to tackle pollution. Still, the jump—which brought BYD’s sales of full-electric and plug-in hybrid cars to roughly 7,600 in the six months ended June 30—wasn’t big enough to signal there will be serious mass-market demand for the pricey cars, analysts said. And the increased sales of electric cars couldn’t offset a 27% decline in sales of traditional gasoline-powered cars, which still account for nearly half of BYD’s total revenue. Poor sales of gasoline-powered cars and continued losses from a division that makes solar panels pushed BYD’s first-half net profit down more than 15% to CNY361 million versus the previous year, the company said Sunday. BYD’s weak results underscore the challenges China’s car makers face […]