①All four emerging automakers achieved year-on-year growth, but compared to December last year, their delivery performance showed a significant decline. ②"The beginning of the year is traditionally a market off-season, compounded by the expiration of the vehicle purchase tax exemption policy at the end of last year, which brought forward some demand, resulting in a relatively large overall decline in the market this year," a senior executive of an emerging automaker told Caixin.
Cailian Press reported on February 1 (by reporter Xu Hao) that on February 1, the new electric vehicle manufacturers $LEAPMOTOR (09863.HK)$ 、 $Li Auto (LI.US)$ / $LI AUTO-W (02015.HK)$ 、 $NIO Inc (NIO.US)$ / $NIO-SW (09866.HK)$ and $XPeng (XPEV.US)$ / $XPENG-W (09868.HK)$ successively announced their January delivery volumes. All four carmakers achieved year-on-year growth, but compared to December last year, their delivery performance showed a significant decline.
"The beginning of the year is traditionally a market off-season, compounded by the expiration of the vehicle purchase tax exemption policy at the end of last year, which brought forward some demand, resulting in a relatively large overall decline in the market this year," a senior executive of an emerging automaker told Caixin.
Leapmotor delivered 32,059 new vehicles in January, representing a year-on-year increase of 27.37%, but a month-on-month decrease of 46.94%. To stabilize the market, Leapmotor stated that its channel expansion has been accelerating, with 85 new stores added recently. As of January 5, the total number of stores nationwide reached 1,068, ensuring more users can experience Leapmotor's products and services.
Li Auto delivered 27,668 new vehicles in January, marking a year-on-year increase of 7.55%, but a month-on-month decline of 37.47%. Li Auto had previously mentioned that battery supply constraints limited the production ramp-up progress of its pure electric SUV models i6 and i8. By the end of January, several customers who pre-ordered the Li i6 received a notification titled "Expected Delivery Timeline for Li i6 Orders," citing delays in core component capacity preparation and production ramp-up as reasons for changes in the production schedule.
For customers unable to receive deliveries on time, Li Auto proposed offering certain credit compensation or allowing them to switch to the Sunwoda battery version if they wished for earlier delivery. Li Auto will adhere to equivalent safety and quality standards during production and quality checks, with an additional two-year or 40,000-kilometer battery warranty provided. Customers switching to the Li L series Smart Upgrade Edition, i8, or MEGA models before February 14 will also enjoy a cash subsidy of 10,000 yuan.
Nio delivered 27,182 new vehicles in January, reflecting a year-on-year surge of 96.08% but a month-on-month drop of 43.53%. Notably, the all-new ES8 completed its 60,000th delivery just 134 days after launch. Nio highlighted that the high price and margin of the ES8 are expected to boost both sales volume and gross margin levels this year, with high-margin products driving total gross margin growth and improving operational quality.
To further stimulate the market, the Nio brand introduced a seven-year ultra-low-interest financing program for the new ET5, ET5T, ES6, and EC6 models, while the Letude brand offered the same for the Letude L60 and L90 models.
In conjunction with the release of delivery figures, Li Auto and Nio simultaneously announced recent advancements in intelligent technologies, signaling intensified competition among new EV makers in the intelligentization domain this year. Li Auto announced that it had rolled out the OTA 8.2 system update in January, introducing 40 new features and optimizing 25 user experiences, comprehensively upgrading assisted driving, smart space, and electric intelligence functionalities. Nio officially launched the latest version of its NWM (Nio World Model).
XPeng Motors delivered 20,011 new vehicles in January, reflecting a year-on-year decline of 34.07% and a month-on-month drop of 46.65%, indicating room for market recovery.
On January 8, XPeng Motors launched four new models, including the new XPeng G6 all-electric version, the new XPeng G9 all-electric version, the XPeng G7 range-extended version, and the XPeng P7+ all-electric and range-extended versions. Brian Gu, Vice Chairman and Co-President of XPeng Motors, stated that XPeng is expected to achieve 'very strong' growth this year. 'The sales growth rate in overseas markets may exceed that in the domestic market,' said Gu.
‘Given that the vehicle purchase tax exemption policy has just expired, and currently only some provinces and cities have initiated vehicle replacement subsidy policies; coupled with the fact that mid-January last year was a peak sales period before the Spring Festival, the relatively weak performance of automobile retail this month is reasonable due to the shift in the timing of the Spring Festival holiday,’ said Cui Dongshu, Secretary General of the Passenger Car Association. He predicted that as local replacement subsidy details are gradually finalized and the subsidy application process becomes smoother, combined with the gradual release of potential pre-Spring Festival car-buying demand, the automobile retail market is expected to gradually recover and improve.’
Editor/Jayden