BEIJING, September 1 (TMTPost)— Chinese electric vehicle (EV) automakers maintained momentum of even though Tesla reignited price war in the world’s largest EV market.

Credit：Visual China

BYD Co. Ltd sold 274,386 new energy vehicles (NEVs) in August, increasing 57.5% year-over-year (YoY), according to a filling on Friday. The leading EV manufacturer refreshed its sales record for four months in a row and for the first time made monthly sales topping 270,000 units. The company sold 1.792184 million NEVs, including battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), from January to August, rising 83.1% from a year earlier.

BYD exported 25,023 NEVs overseas in August with a 37.7% month-over-month (MoM) increase, highlighting the acceleration of expansion outside China.  Its monthly export has maintained more than 10,000 units since last November, and the past month set another record after its sales overseas just hit 18,000 vehicles in July. The sales beyond China stood at 73,400 units in the first half of the year, more than doubling last year that had 55,900 units of annual overseas sales. 

Aion, a brand owned by the state-owned manufacturer Guangzhou Automobile Group Co., Ltd. (GAC), posted a new milestone in August. That month saw Aion sales surged about 66.5% YoY to 45,000 EVs while its delivery reached 52,057 EVs, much more than its sales order quantity. Aion sold a total of 306,418 vehicles in the first eight months of this year, exceeding the annual sales of 271,000 units for the year 2022. Aion can easily meet its annual target of 500,000 units this year if it sells abour 50,000 vehicles in the coming months.

Li Auto Inc. posted a new monthly delivery record with a more shockingly growth in August. The EV maker delivered 34,914 vehicles, representing a 663.8% YoY jump. That was another triple-digit growth following the previous month’s 227.5% yearly increase. Li Auto has maintained more than 30,000 units of delivery for the third straight month since it first exceeded the 30,000-unit monthly delivery mark in June.

Delivery of each of the company’s Li Li series models--Li L7, Li L8, and Li L9 surpassed 10,000 vehicles in August. The cumulative delivery this year reached 208,165 by the end of the month. From January to August, Li Auto captured an over 30% market share in the RMB300,000 and higher NEV market in China, winning the premium NEV sales champion title, its chairman and CEO Li Xiang said. “Furthermore, we have held the top sales spot among high-end ICE and new energy SUVs priced above RMB300,000 in China for five straight months since April this year,” Li said. Li expressed optimism for Li MEGA, noting the upcoming new flagship model “will help us accomplish our goal of making Li Auto China’s best-selling premium auto brand in 2024.”

Nio Inc’s delivered in August climbed 81% YoY to 19,329 vehicles, just shy of the monthly record the EV company made a month earlier. It delivered 20,462 vehicles in July, up 103.6% YoY. Given the recent guidance between 55,000 and 57,000 vehicles for the current quarterly, Nio could deliver around 15,000 to 17,000 units in September. Nio has an aim to keep monthly delivery more than 20,000, and is preparing for a sales capacity of 30,000 units per month, the Chairman and CEO Li Bin, or William Li, said an earnings call earlier this week. Through its effort of building sales team, Nio will have that initial capability of sales ready by the end of September, then the real effect will kick in from October, Li said.

Xpeng Inc recorded delivery of 13,690 EVs in August with a 43% YoY increase. It achieved another double-digit MoM growth of 24% following that of 18% in the previous month. With more than 10,000 units of delivery for the second consecutive month, Xpeng’s monthly delivery volume has continuously increased this year, maintaining solid growth momentum.

Sales recently were buoyed by the blockbuster model G6. The Ultra Smart Coupe SUV commenced mass deliveries across 110 cities nationwide in July after its market launch in late June. 51.6% of Xpeng’s delivery in August came from G6 with a volume of 7,068 units, bringing cumulative G6 deliveries to more than 11,000 units. Xpeng said G6 deliveries surpassed the 10,000 mark in only 45 days following its delivery start date. The company is ramping up capacity to deliver more than 10,000 G6 vehicles a month, and aims to increase its monthly delivery to an average of 200,000 units during the fourth quarterly.