By Michael Elkins
Li Auto (NASDAQ:LI), Xpeng (NYSE:XPEV) and Nio Inc (NYSE:NIO) reported 1Q23 delivery numbers Monday, with LI leading the pack of start-ups. Li Auto announced that the company delivered 20,823 vehicles in March 2023, surpassing the 20,000 monthly delivery mark again and representing an increase of 88.7% year over year. This latest report brings Li’s cumulative vehicle deliveries to 309,918 as of the end of March.
“We have commenced deliveries of Li L7, our five-seat flagship family SUV, and are pleased to hear from its first users that their satisfaction with the vehicle has exceeded their expectation. As of the end of March, we delivered over 300,000 vehicles cumulatively, the fastest among China’s premium NEV manufacturers to achieve this milestone,” commented Xiang Li, chairman and chief executive officer of Li Auto. “We are also very excited to see that Li Auto has captured nearly 20% market share in the RMB300,000 to RMB500,000 SUV market in China, and become a brand of choice among premium family SUVs, demonstrating our product strengths and users’ widespread recognition. Finally, we will begin to deliver Li L7 Air and Li L8 Air in April.”
XPeng closely follows LI, announcing 7,002 deliveries, representing a 17% increase over the prior month. Total deliveries for the first quarter of 2023 reached 18,230 vehicles.
XPeng launched the company’s new P7i sports sedan in March for the Chinese market. So far, the new EV has generated favorable market reception and its order backlog is gathering strong momentum. A total of 3,030 P7 series sedans were delivered in March, representing a 32% increase month-over-month.
NIO brings up the rear of the 3 start-ups, announcing 10,378 vehicle deliveries in March, bringing total 1Q deliveries to 31,041 vehicles. The latest report represents an increase of 20.5% year-over-year. Cumulative deliveries of NIO vehicles reached 320,597 as of March 31, 2023.
On March 28th, NIO launched its third-generation Power Swap station in China. As of March 31, 2023, NIO had deployed 1,339 Power Swap stations, 1,285 Power Charger stations with 6,467 chargers, and 1,154 destination charging stations with 7,993 chargers worldwide. NIO will speed up the expansion of the battery swapping network and plans to install 1,000 Power Swap stations in 2023.
Shares of LI, XPEV and NIO are up 1.32%, 2.97% and 0.48% respectively in pre-market trading on Monday.