NIO (NIO) and other Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers are in focus today after reporting April delivery figures, with Li Auto hitting a new delivery record.
NIO said it delivered 6,658 vehicles in April, a 31.2% increase year-over-year, though down compared to its March figure of 10,378. NIO’s breakdown of deliveries consisted of 1,713 electric SUVs, and 4,945 electric sedans. Nio’s all-time cumulative vehicle deliveries 327,255 at the end of April.
Looking ahead, NIO started to ramp up the production and delivery of the EC7, it’s a five-seater flagship EV coupe SUV. NIO’s all-new ES6 SUV which debuted at the Shanghai Auto Show, is expected to officially launch and commence deliveries in May 2023 of this year. Finally NIO’s ES8 flagship SUV, which was revealed at NIO Day in 2022, will begin deliveries in June.
Li Auto (LI), which makes more affordable plug-in hybrid EVs for the Chinese market, reported deliveries 25,681 in April, up over 500% year over year and setting a new monthly record. Deliveries crossed the 20,000 delivery mark for a second consecutive month, with all-time cumulative deliveries hitting 335,599.
“We are pleased to have delivered over 10,000 Li L7s in its first full month of deliveries, establishing the vehicle as a preferred choice among five-seat premium SUVs for Chinese families while marking the first time a Chinese branded five-seat SUV priced above RMB300,000 ($43.3K) has achieved this monthly delivery milestone,” Xiang Li, chairman and CEO of Li Auto said in a statement. “We are also proud to have captured leading shares in both China’s NEV (new electric vehicle) and SUV markets in the price segment above RMB300,000 in the first quarter of 2023.”
In terms of the company’s electrification game plan, Li Auto said previously it intends to have 5 pure EVs on sale by 2025, and will launch its first pure EV later this year.
Finally, Guangzhou-based XPeng (XPEV) reported deliveries of 7,079 EVs in April, slightly higher than March’s total but down year over year compared to the 9,002 units delivered last April.
XPeng said the new P7i sports sedan continues to gather “strong order intake momentum,” and that it intends to significantly ramp up production and accelerate deliveries of the P7i in the near future. XPeng launched the P7i in March 2023 with the hope that the new vehicle will jumpstart deliveries.
The P7i is a face-lifted version of XPeng’s P7, which is a direct competitor with Tesla’s Model 3. XPeng also debuted its newest model, the G6 SUV, at the Shanghai Auto Show in April. XPeng says the official launch of the G6 is planned for the end of Q2, with deliveries beginning immediately after launch.
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Pras Subramanian is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on Twitter and on Instagram.
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