Due to the relatively low base figures in February of this year and last year, the delivery data of emerging forces rebounded significantly in March.
On April 1, emerging automakers successively released their March delivery results. Among them, Leapmotor returned to the monthly sales range of 50,000 units, while Li Auto, Nio, and XPeng Motors all achieved varying degrees of growth compared to the previous month.
The US-listed shares of 'Nio, XPeng Motors, and Li Auto' collectively rose at the start of trading, with Li Auto up more than 5%, Nio rising over 3%, and XPeng Motors gaining 2.5%.
Leapmotor, which disclosed its data first on that day, delivered 50,029 vehicles in March, representing a year-on-year increase of 34.87% and a month-on-month increase of 78.25%, maintaining its leading position among new forces. On the same day, Leapmotor announced that Zhu Jiangming, founder, chairman, and CEO of Leapmotor, along with shareholder Fu Liquan, recently increased their holdings in the company at an average price of approximately HKD 45.1. The total amount of this share purchase was about HKD 230 million, demonstrating confidence in the company’s development.
“The global launch of Leapmotor A10 marks the industry's first model at the RMB 100,000 price point equipped with ‘garage-to-garage’ advanced assisted driving functions, making intelligent driving accessible to all.” Zhu Jiangming stated that at the Beijing Auto Show in April, Leapmotor will release the Lafa5 Ultra version and the flagship model D19, achieving 'delivery upon listing.'
Li Auto ranked second, delivering 41,053 new vehicles in March, representing year-on-year and month-on-month increases of 11.94% and 55.38%, respectively. The cumulative deliveries for the first quarter reached 95,142 units, surpassing the upper limit of the delivery guidance.
“With the complete resolution of production capacity bottlenecks after the Spring Festival, the delivery volume of Li i6 has continued to rise, exceeding 24,000 units in March. Meanwhile, the order volume of Li i8 has steadily increased, with a month-on-month growth of over 100% in March,” said Li Xiang, Chairman of Li Auto. Additionally, the all-new Li L9 will be launched in Q2, featuring the self-developed Mach 100 chip, the world’s first mass-produced full-line control chassis, and an 800V fully active suspension. This model is a strategic product for Li Auto.
In terms of technological layout, Li Auto unveiled its next-generation autonomous driving foundational model, MindVLA, and its 3D ViT visual encoder at NVIDIA GTC 2026 in March. “This 3D ViT visual encoder can directly perceive the real three-dimensional physical world, providing a unified understanding of both the geometry and semantics of real-world space, approaching human-level spatial comprehension capabilities,” said Li Xiang. He added that this foundational model was designed not only for autonomous driving but will also drive more intelligent agents in the physical world in the future, serving as a crucial pillar of Li Auto’s physical AI strategy.
Nio also exceeded its quarterly guidance. In March, Nio delivered 35,486 vehicles, representing year-on-year and month-on-month increases of 135.96% and 70.63%, respectively. The cumulative deliveries for the first quarter reached 83,465 units, surpassing the upper limit of the guidance at 83,000 units. Among the sub-brands, NIO brand delivered 22,490 new vehicles in March, growing 120.1% year-on-year and 48.4% month-on-month; the Leto brand delivered 6,877 vehicles, increasing 42.7% year-on-year and 130.7% month-on-month; and the Firefly brand delivered 6,119 vehicles, with a month-on-month growth of 130.3%.
It is reported that Nio will hold a product and technology launch event for its flagship SUV ES9 on April 9, aiming to further consolidate its market position in the pure-electric large three-row SUV segment.
XPeng Motors delivered 27,415 vehicles in March, representing a year-on-year decrease of 17.44%, making it the only new energy vehicle startup with negative growth; cumulative deliveries in the first quarter reached 62,682 units, declining by more than 30% year-on-year, meeting the delivery guidance. The 2026 XPeng MONA M03, which serves as the 'sales backbone' for XPeng Motors, is scheduled to launch on April 2 and is expected to boost the company’s overall performance.
In terms of overseas market expansion, XPeng Motors officially entered the Mexican market on March 25 and announced its three-year strategic plan for Latin America. According to the plan, the company will introduce pure electric and extended-range electric models in the Latin American region by 2027, with the goal of achieving a leading market position in the region by 2028.
Cui Dongshu, Secretary General of the China Passenger Car Association, stated that new energy vehicles set to be launched later this year are expected to reinvigorate the market. However, there remains a certain time lag between technical announcements, pre-sales, and final deliveries, which means this incremental volume was not reflected in the terminal market performance in March.
Editor/Jayden