WM Motor’s Jan.-May registrations soar 87.9% year on year

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Chinese NEV startup WM Motor had 3,249 new vehicles registered in May 2022, representing a 27.7% year-on-year jump, while showing a 2.3% month-on-month drop, according to data compiled by Gasgoo Auto Research Institute.

For the first five months of 2022, there were 18,112 vehicles of WM Motor registered across China, reflecting an 87.9% upward movement from a year ago. Notably, the monthly registrations hit an all-time high of 5,533 units in March.

Among all local NEV startups in China, WM Motor had ranked sixth by monthly registrations for 15 consecutive months as of May 2022.

The company currently has four production models for sale, namely the EX5 (including the EX5-Z), the EX6, the W6, and the E.5 (including the E.5 Pro). In terms of monthly registrations, the E.5 topped other models in the past five months. The best-selling model originally targeted the mobility service sector when it hit the market in the second half of 2021, while is now available for purchase by individual consumers after the refreshed version, the E.5 Pro, was launched in April this year.

With regard to ownerships, the automaker's fleet registrations reached 2,004 units in May, 72.5% of which were contributed by the E.5. Meanwhile, the company's retail registrations consisted of 487 E.5s, 391 W6s, 366 EX5s, and 1 EX6.

For the Jan.-May period, fleet and retail registrations accounted for 59.77% and 40.23% of the startup's overall registrations respectively.

Regarding regional registrations, Chengdu and Haikou were the only two cities with over 200 WM Motor's vehicles registered in May. Apart from the top 2 cities, there were still 8 provincial capital cities among the top 20 cities by May registrations, which were Guangzhou, Guiyang, Wuhan, Jinan, Hangzhou, Hefei, Nanning, and Nanchang. Shenzhen ranked 12th on the top 20 cities list, while the list didn't include Beijing and Shanghai.

For the first five months of the year, Wenzhou, where one of the company's manufacturing bases is located, registered the most WM Motor's vehicles. Haikou and Chengdu were the other two cities recording over 1,000 units in Jan.-May registrations.

WM Motor has submitted the application documents for its potential initial public offering ("IPO") and listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. In the draft prospectus, the company said it had built its own manufacturing bases in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province and Huanggang, Hubei province, with an aggregate maximum annual production capacity of 250,000 vehicles.

WM Motor's M7; photo credit: WM Motor

The company plans to launch the M7 in the second half of 2022. The all-new sedan model is expected to offer the company's self-developed Level 4 AVP (automated valet parking) function in 2023, and its hardware has been configured to support future Level 5 autonomous driving capabilities.