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Li Auto and Xpeng continue rewriting monthly sales records, charged by mainland China’s love for battery-powered vehicles

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Li Auto and Xpeng continue rewriting monthly sales records, charged by mainland China’s love for battery-powered vehicles


Li Auto and Xpeng, two top premium electric vehicle (EV) builders in China, rewrote sales records in November, as their new car models amplified the popularity of battery-powered vehicles.

Li Auto, which joined the Hang Seng Index as one of the new constituents this month, reported deliveries of 41,030 units in November, up 1.5 per cent from the previous record of 40,422 it had set in October. The Beijing-based carmaker has now broken its monthly sales record for eight straight months.

Guangzhou-based Xpeng handed 20,041 vehicles to buyers last month, up from 20,002 units in October. The November deliveries erased the monthly record set in October.

“In November, Li Auto achieved its full-year delivery target ahead of time,” Li Xiang, co-founder and CEO of Beijing-based Li Auto, said in a statement on Friday. “Propelled by the growing market demand, we will continue to strive for a 50,000 monthly delivery target in December with ample preparations in sales, supply, production, and delivery capabilities.”

Li Auto Inc. Mega MPV on display at the Guangzhou Auto Show in Guangzhou, China, on Friday, Nov. 17, 2023. China is the world’s largest electric vehicle market. Photo: Bloomberg

Li Auto, which builds luxury sport utility vehicles (SUVs), has emerged as Tesla’s biggest ­challenger in mainland China this year, buoyed by strong sales of its new models – L7, L8 and L9. All its vehicles are priced above 300,000 yuan (US$42,335).

The company’s total deliveries between January and November jumped 191 per cent year on year to 325,677 units, beating its full-year sales target of 300,000 vehicles.

Chinese EV builder Xpeng foresees record sales as new models prove a hit

Tesla’s Shanghai Gigafactory does not report monthly deliveries. According to the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA), the US carmaker handed 28,626 units to mainland customers in October, a month-on-month decline of 34.2 per cent. It followed a 32.8 per cent fall in September from the previous month.

In the first 10 months of 2023, Tesla delivered 378,800 vehicles, an increase of 62.2 per cent year on year, CPCA data showed.

“More middle-class consumers in China have been convinced that battery-powered vehicles represent the future of mobility,” said Phate Zhang, founder of Shanghai-based EV data provider CnEVPost. “Leading EV makers will continue to see sales increase but smaller players may find it difficult to survive a fiercer competition ahead.”

Xpeng’s buoyant sales resulted from the rising popularity of the new G6 SUV, which accounted for nearly half of its total deliveries in November.

A total of 8,750 G6s were delivered last month, compared with 8,741 units in October.

But another top Chinese premium EV builder, Nio, said its November deliveries slipped 0.7 per cent from a month ago to 15,959 units.

Tesla raised prices of its Shanghai-made Model 3 and Model Y vehicles in October and November due to higher production costs, making cars built by its Chinese rivals attractive to mainland motorists in terms of pricing.

Nio, Xpeng and Li Auto are now facing new rivals such as smartphone vendor Xiaomi and search-engine giant Baidu, whose intelligent vehicles are luring wealthy motorists away from established players.

Aito, a car brand developed by telecoms equipment giant Huawei, delivered a record 18,827 vehicles in November, up 48.2 per cent from a month ago.

The CPCA has predicted that the country’s EV industry will achieve a 50 per cent year-on-year sales growth in 2023, delivering a total of 8.5 million units to mainland Chinese customers.



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