BEIJING, Sept 10 (Reuters) - Chinese electric automaker

BYD aims to sell 4 million vehicles this

year, Morgan Stanley ( MS ) said in a report on Monday,

suggesting an 11% upward revision to the company's 2024 sales

target set earlier this year.

The goal would put BYD almost at par with Ford Motor ( F )

which ranked sixth by global sales in 2023 with 4.4 million

vehicles sold.

BYD attributed the extra sales growth to this year's

introduction of new models with its latest plug-in hybrid

technology known as DM-i 5.0, which would also contribute a

better margin, Morgan Stanley ( MS ) analysts wrote in a report dated

Monday, citing comments by BYD executives at a roadshow event.

The order backlog of such models including Qin L and Seal 06

DM-i, both priced from 99,800 yuan ($14,019), has exceeded BYD's

production capacity, the report said, adding that BYD showed no

intention to hike prices in the rest of the year.

BYD launched the fifth-generation DM-i 5.0 plug-in hybrid

technology in May, which improves fuel and cost savings. The

world's second largest EV vendor after U.S. rival Tesla

touted a record low fuel consumption of 2.9 litres per 100 km

(62.1 miles) on depleted batteries with the technology.

It still dominates the segment of EV models priced between

100,000 yuan and 150,000, and the BYD executives expected

limited competition from peers such as Xpeng's Mona M03, which

is priced from $17,000, according to the report.

The higher sales target implies that BYD, which had its best

ever month in August with 373,083 auto sales, would sell around

418,000 vehicles per month in the fourth quarter.

Of that, more than 11% would be sold overseas as the company

aims to double exports to 450,000 vehicles this year.

BYD set a 3.6-million-vehicle sales target for 2024, a jump

of 20% from its record-breaking sales last year, Reuters

reported in March.

The company improved net profit in the second quarter, even

though it led a protracted price war with aggressive discounts

on its best-selling models.

Under pressure to catch up with rivals in smart driving

features, BYD has ramped up its efforts of in-house development

of such technologies. The company uses Momenta's system in its

Denza cars and Huawei's technology in the Fangchengbao Bao 8

SUV.

($1 = 7.1188 Chinese yuan renminbi)