NEV startups see strong momentum in Oct. deliveries

Beijing (Gasgoo)- Several China’s new energy vehicle (NEV) startups updated their October deliveries in the first workday of this month. NIO, Li Auto, Xpeng and WM Motor all saw strong momentum last month.

Both NIO and Li Auto posted the highest delivery record in a month, especially NIO, whose monthly deliveries doubled to 5,055 units, exceeding 5,000 for the first time. As of October, the automaker’s monthly deliveries have increased for eight consecutive months. Li Auto, with one model on sale, delivered 3,692 vehicles last month, the third consecutive monthly record high.

Among the four automakers, Xpeng showed the biggest increase of the monthly deliveries. The Guangzhou-based automaker’s October deliveries surged 229% to 3,040 units, but decreased a little from the previous month’s 3,478 units. WM Motor achieved the best delivery results this year in October with over 3,000 units delivered, a year-on-year increase of 46% and a month-on-month increase of 42.5%.  

As to the year-to-date deliveries, two start-ups’ volume exceeded 20,000 units, namely NIO (31,430 units) and Li Auto (21,852 units). The other two companies’ volume is very close and the cumulative deliveries of WM Motor in the first ten months have exceeded the annual volume of last year.

Li ONE; Photo credit: Li Auto

Li ONE was the most popular model from NEV startups in October. The six-seat, large premium electric SUV is equipped with a range extension system and has a NEDC range of 800 kilometers. The automaker takes extended-range electric vehicles (EREV) as the most efficient solution to address current challenges facing domestic market and currently it has no plans to build a battery electric vehicle. At a media conference earlier, Li Auto announced it will update its OTA 2.0 system soon.

Two out of NIO’s three models saw deliveries exceeding 1,000 units. The volume of the ES6 reached 2,695 while that of the ES8 were 1,477. NIO delivered 883 EC6s in October, the first month of the coupe SUV’s scale delivery. Besides, the average price of NIO’s models exceeded RMB400,000 (about 59,800 dollars). To expand its sales network, NIO has been reportedly set up an overseas business unit in Europe with an aim to start selling vehicles there in 2021.

NIO EC6; Photo credit: NIO

The Xpeng P7’s monthly deliveries have exceeded 2,000 units for two months with October deliveries up to 2,104 units. On October 20, the 10,000th P7 rolled off the production line, another milestone for the smart electric vehicle company. It took less than 160 days for the company to achieve the milestone, the shortest time for China’s new energy vehicle startups to make such an accomplishment for a single model. What’s more, Zhaoqing Xiaopeng Motors, a subsidiary of Xpeng, has been given official approval to expand its assembly line, targeting an annual capacity of 100,000 vehicles.  Since WM Motor didn't provide the respective deliveries of its two models, we ranked its total sales.

Ceremony for 10,000th Xpeng P7 coming off productin line; photo credit: Xpeng 

Yesterday, China’s State Council formally issued the country’s NEV industry development planning for the next 15 years. By 2025, the sales of NEVs will account for 20% of the overall sales. The announcement brought the three U.S.-listed start-ups’ share price higher, with NIO’s up by 8.96%, Xpeng’s up by 6.91% and Li Auto’s up by 13.44%.