Insurance registrations of Chinese NEV startups in May rocket over 200% YoY

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- For the month of May 2021, consumers in China bought the MLI (Mandatory Liability Insurance for Traffic Accidents of Motor Vehicles) for 178,263 China-made new energy vehicles in total, representing a 160.5% surge year on year and a 7.5% growth month on month, according to the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC).

Meanwhile, the registration of the vehicles from Chinese EV startups reached roughly 30,100 units, zooming up 221.6% from a year earlier, while also rising 10.1% from the previous month.

For the first five months, China's NEV insurance registrations aggregated 769,483 units. Except February, the other four months all posted registrations topping 100,000 units. Local EV startups accounted for 15.6% of Jan.-May NEV registrations.

Tesla saw its monthly registrations soar 85% over the previous month to 22,109 units in May, higher than any of Chinese startups. It seems that the protest against the alleged brake malfunction occurring in the Auto Shanghai 2021 and the complaints about quality issues have not caused evident adverse impact on Tesla's China sales.

To be specific, there were 9,324 Model 3s and 12,785 Model Ys registered last month. Notably, it was the first time for the Model Y to outnumber the Model 3 on a monthly basis. Besides, the Model Y's registrations for private users amounted to 10,607 units, 2,192 units more than the Model 3.

Among Chinese EV startups, the top 6 were still NIO, XPeng, Li Auto, HOZON Auto, Leapmotor, and WM Motor, accounting for 88% of all startups’ May registrations.

Compared to April, XPeng leapt over Li Auto to the runner-up place. HOZON Auto moved up one spot to the fourth place with its May registrations topping 4,000 units.

NIO's insurance volume amounted to 6,078 units, sliding 18% over a month earlier. All of its three models encountered month-on-month decrease.

The downward movement was partly due to the chip shortage. The company said its vehicle delivery was adversely impacted for several days because of the volatility of semiconductor supply and certain logistics adjustments.

Last month, NIO announced the renewal of the manufacturing contract with Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group Co.,Ltd. (JAC), who had served as NIO's contract manufacturer for five years.

Under the joint manufacturing arrangement, from May 2021 to May 2024, JAC will continue to manufacture NIO's vehicles, including the ES8, the ES6, the EC6, the ET7, and potentially other NIO's models. To meet the growing demands for NIO's vehicles, NIO will enlarge its annual production capacity to 240,000 vehicles (calculated based on 4,000 work hours per year) during the three-year life of the contract.

Despite the chip supply constraint, XPeng witnessed its May registrations jump 15.8% month over month to 5,722 units. The two-digit growth stemmed from the 31.1% increase in the P7's insurance volume. According to XPeng, the deliveries of the P7 hit an all-time high level in the first month when the lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery-powered version was handed over to consumers.

Sales network of XPeng was further expanded as well. In May, the startup founded two sales service subsidiaries in Zibo, Shandong province and Haikou, Hainan province.

In May, Li Auto ranked third among Chinese startups with only one production model for sale, while its registrations fell 12.2% compared to April.

The company revealed the decline was mainly resulted from the release of the 2021 Li ONE. Only 10,000 yuan ($1,550) dearer than the existing model, the refreshed one features many upgrades in range-extended powertrain, advanced driver assistance system, smart cockpit, and seating experience, and boasts a NEDC range of up to 1,080km. Thus, many consumers decided to wait until the delivery started on June 1.

Within the so-called second-tier group, HOZON Auto topped the other two with an insurance volume of 4,508 units, the highest monthly figure the company ever achieved.

The Nezha V once again served as the major sales contributor by taking up 77% of the company's total registrations in May. Among the NEV models of Chinese startups, the Nezha V ranked third by May registrations, only following the Li ONE and the XPeng P7.

Leapmotor's May registrations were down 6% month over month to 2,754 units, 98% of which were contributed by the T03, the No.4 among Chinese startups' NEV models by May insurance volume.

It is worth noting that the registrations for private users amounted to 2,662 units, making up 96.7% of the EV maker's total volume.

WM Motor's insurance volume was 2,544 vehicles in May, rising 15.8% month on month. The biggest sales contributor was still the EX5. The W6, which boasts self-driving capabilities based on Baidu Apollo platform, only had an insurance volume of 383 units.