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A NIO ET5 electric sedan at the Shanghai Auto Show in Shanghai, China.
Qilai Shen/Bloomberg
Chinese electric-vehicle delivery numbers were released just as September begins. They are key for many EV makers, including leaders
Tesla
and
BYD
.
They are also key for investors who want to see strong demand.
So far, so good. Start-ups
Li Auto
(ticker: LI),
NIO
(
NIO
), and
XPeng
(XPEV) reported numbers early Friday and their combined results were a record for any month. All three stocks rose in premarket trading.
Li delivered 34,914 cars in August, a record for any month. Li delivered 34,134 in July, which also was record for the company at the time. Li delivered just 4,571 units in August 2022 amid Covid-19 lockdowns in China. Li has delivered more than 208,000 vehicles in 2023, up roughly 175%.
NIO delivered 19,329 cars in August, compared with 20,462 in July, which was also a record month for NIO. A year ago, NIO delivered 10,677 vehicles. NIO has delivered some 94,000 cars in 2023, up roughly 32% year over year.
XPeng
delivered 13,690 cars in August, compared with 11,008 in July. XPeng’s monthly record was 16,000 units in December 2021. The company has been struggling to grow volumes in recent months. Deliveries in 2023 amounted to roughly 66,000 units, down about 26% year over year.
Struggles were reflected in the stock price. XPeng was about $17 a year ago and traded below $7 a share in early 2023.
Lately, XPeng shares have performed much better, helped by a $700 million investment from
Volkswagen
(VOW.Germany). The pair will develop two EVs for the Chinese market.
Coming into Friday, XPeng stock has risen about 3% over the past 12 months. Shares were up another 4.1% in premarket trading following the delivery numbers.
S&P 500
and
Nasdaq Composite
futures rose 0.2% and 0.1%, respectively.
NIO stock has fallen 45% over the past 12 months. Higher interest rates and falling car prices have weighed on investor sentiment. Shares were up 1.3% in premarket trading.
Li’s strong deliveries have helped its stock rise, despite economic headwinds. The stock has jumped 49% over the past 12 months. Shares rose another 2.9% in premarket trading.
Together, the trio delivered more than 68,000 units, up from about 25,000 units a year ago. That’s the highest combined total for the three EV makers ever. So far this year, combined deliveries are about 360,000 units, up roughly 50% year over year.
Growing deliveries are good for Li, NIO, and XPeng. It’s good for the Chinese EV industry too. EV demand in the world’s largest market for new cars looks strong.
Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com