Chinese EV makers, Nio, Li Auto, and XPeng report their delivery numbers for this December. The numbers continue to stay high despite the Covid Wave in the country. The Warren Buffest-backed EV maker, BYD is yet to release its delivery numbers.
China has eased Covid restrictions, which had throttled the economy. But now there are widespread outbreaks of the coronavirus throughout the country. Tesla China and other China-based automakers have now warned deliveries and production could possibly fall due to Covid disruptions. Analysts are also ringing warning bells on the auto industry broadly, and specifically on the EV segment in 2023. China EV subsidies ended on Dec. 31. With this backdrop, Tesla rivals in China are set to close the book in 2022.
Ahead of official delivery reports early in January, BYD reported huge, higher China EV deliveries for the week ending Dec. 25. Last week, registrations for BYD vehicles came in at 51,636, up from 50,462 and 44,817 in the prior two weeks. BYD’s big delivery numbers came even as Tesla and Nio saw week-to-week declines. BYD recently reported that Covid cases among workers had cut production by 2,000-3,000 vehicles per day. An executive said full-year deliveries of its all-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles would likely come in at 1.88 million. That implies December sales of around 247,000.
Other EV makers
Tesla China registrations fell to an estimated 8,915 on the week, even with ever-increasing incentives. Tesla registrations for the first three weeks of December were 11,670, 12,977, and 10,254, respectively. Meanwhile, Nio registration estimates slipped to 2,690, from 3,464, for the week ending on Dec. 25. Fellow China-based EV startup Li Auto saw registrations improve to 5,155, from 4,558 and 3,013 the prior two weeks. XPeng, another company attempting to mount a challenge to Tesla in China, had 2,536 vs. 3,257 in the prior week.
Li Auto reported on Jan. 1 that December deliveries jumped to 21,233 vehicles, with its L8 and L9 hybrid SUVs both topping 10,000. That was up 50% vs. a year earlier and soaring 41% vs. the previous record of 15,034 in November. Li Auto on Friday said December deliveries of its hybrid SUVs would top 20,000. In Q4, Li delivered 46,319 vehicles, up 31.5% vs. a year earlier and nearly 75% vs. Q3, as a model changeover was underway. Li Auto deliveries hit 133,246 vehicles for the full year, up 47% from 2021.
XPeng deliveries jumped to 11,292 in December, up 94% vs. November, back above 10,000 for the first time since July. That included 4,020 G9 SUVs, up 160% vs. November for the relatively new crossover model. Q4 deliveries came in at 22,204, down from 29,570 in Q3, but beating XPeng’s forecast of 20,000-21,000.
