By Senad Karaahmetovic
Three China-based energy vehicle (NEV) startups Nio (NYSE:NIO), Xpeng Inc (NYSE:XPEV), and Li Auto (NASDAQ:LI) today reported deliveries for the month of May.
Nio reported 7,024 deliveries for May, +38% month-over-month. ES6 deliveries stood at 2,936 in May, up 56% MoM. The company said that its vehicle production has bounced back this month following the coronavirus outbreak in some of China’s major cities where its deliveries were curbed by the lockdown measures.
Nio said it plans to additionally increase production capacity by cooperating with supply chain partners and ramp up the delivery recovery in June.
XPeng reported 10,125 vehicle deliveries in May, taking the total number of delivered units this year to 53,688.
As of the end of last month, the carmaker said it operated 954 self-managed car charging stations, 774 of which were supercharging stations and 180 other charging locations across China. XPeng returned to double-shift production at its Zhaoqing factory earlier this month.
Morgan Stanley analyst Tim Hsiao expects to see even stronger deliveries for June.
“Cumulative April and May sales reached 56-62% of the company's 2Q guidance of 31-34k, implying XPeng will need to grow deliveries to 11.9-14.9k, or a 17-47% MoM increase, in June, which we view as undemanding, considering XPeng resumed double-shift production at its Zhaoqing plant from the last week of May. As for OTA upgrade, the company will soon launch ACC-Land LCC-L(L stands for LiDAR), which will carry out the industry’s first adaptive cruise control and lane center control function powered by camera and LiDAR-based perception,” Hsiao said in a client note.
Li Auto delivered 11,496 units in May and reported a total of 233 stores. The carmaker said it continues to grapple with supply shortage challenges and added its Changzhou assembly plant is yet to return to normal production level.
“Our checks indicate Li Auto's production has been continuously ramping up into June, despite the overall run rate at the company's Changzhou factory not yet being back to its previous peak level, given tight component supply,” the Morgan Stanley analyst added.
Li said it delivered a total of 171,467 Li ONE units since it launched the car in 2019.