Chinese EV Sales Polarized: Aito Sets New High while Xpeng Down Nearly 50%

BEIJING, November 2 (TMTPOST)— Tesla’s Chinese rivals posted another mixed result in the past month.

Source: Visual China

Chongqing Sokon's brand Seres sold 12,047 new energy vehicles in October with a 461.37% year-over-year (YoY) increase, out of which there were 12,018 vehicles under Aito, a brand jointly developed by Huawei and Seres. This is the third straight month for the brand to ship more than 10,000 units. As the best month since Aito’s launch in March, September saw its sales increased about 18.5% from the previous month’s record.

Sales of Aion, an electric vehicle (EV) brand owned by the state-owned manufacturer Guangzhou Automobile Group Co., Ltd. (GAC), rose 149% YoY to 30,063 units, maintaining its three-digit yearly growth as the sales in September up 121%. Its year-to-date sales increased 134% YoY to 212, 384 units.

NIO Inc, announced to deliver 10,059 vehicles in October, slightly down from 10,878 vehicles in previous month, but the delivery recorded a 174.3% YoY increase, much robust than the growth of 23.52% in September. Delivery of the company has topped 10,000 for the fifth consecutive month.

In comparison with Seres and Aion’s rapid growth, Xpeng Inc, the annual delivery champion among China’s homegrown emerging EV makers last year, showed more sluggish after its YoY growth turned negative in September. The EV maker delivered 5,101 Smart EVs in October, falling 49.7% from a year earlier. It has shipped less than 10,000 units for three months in a row, and the delivery in October crashed 39.8% from previous month. Shipment of P7, the most selling model of Xpeng, halved from September to 2,104 units. The promising news is that G9, the flagship SUV debuted in September, began mass deliveries on October 27, and the few days that month saw 623 G9 delivered. The volume of G9 will exceed P7 next year, becoming one of top-selling vehicles, Xpeng President Brian Gu expected in September.

Li Auto had a monthly delivery of 10,052 vehicles with YoY increase of 31.4%, weaker than a 62.5% increase in September. Good news is that the company said Li L8, a premium smart SUV model commenced delivery in October, received positive feedback since launch and orders continued to increase, while orders for Li L9, its flagship SUV, remained robust since the delivery began in August, and the level of its user satisfaction continued to exceed their expectations.