Chinese EV makers charge ahead

Themis Qi

China's largest electric vehicle maker BYD (1211) saw its sales growth pick up again to 36 percent in August, with most of its peers also faring well.

Meanwhile, the Huawei-partnered Seres reported a boom of nearly 480 percent in its August vehicle sales, as its tie-up with the Chinese technology giant deepened in intelligence driving.

BYD sold 373,083 new energy vehicles last month, up by almost 36 percent, and higher than July's 30.6 percent rise.

Overseas sales grew 4.8 percent to 31,451 vehicles from one month ago, with the firm on track to meet its goal of 500,000 units this year.

Geely Automobile (0175) reported a surge of about 65 percent in NEV sales to 75,484 units last month, higher than July's 58 percent jump.

Its EV brand Zeekr, listed in New York, posted an increase of 46 percent to 18,015 units during the month.

Seres, Huawei's carmaking partner, disclosed that its NEV sales skyrocketed by over 479 percent year-on-year to 36,181 units. The Shanghai-listed automobile manufacturer started a collaboration with Huawei in 2021.

In July, Seres proposed to buy EV brand Aito's trademarks and patents from Huawei for 2.5 billion yuan (HK$2.75 billion), only 24 percent of the brand's market valuation of 10.2 billion yuan.

Aito is in Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance, Huawei's ecosystem to facilitate intelligent driving.

Li Auto (2015), the only profitable emerging EV maker in China, said its deliveries in August increased 37.8 percent from one year ago to 48,122 units, but the growth slowed by 11.6 percentage points from July.

Nio's (9866) deliveries rose by 4.38 percent year-on-year to 20,176 units in August, reversing July's fall of 0.2 percent, while XPeng's (9868) climbed by 3 percent to 14,036 units, faster than July's 1 percent.

However, Nio and XPeng were surpassed by Zhejiang Leapmotor Technology (9863) whose deliveries more than doubled to 30,305 units in August.

Great Wall Motor (2333), which also produces gasoline fuel vehicles, saw its NEV sales drop by 5.5 percent year-on-year to 24,844 units. But the decline narrowed from July's 16 percent dip.

Newcomer Xiaomi (1810) delivered over 10,000 vehicles for the third consecutive month in August. Chairman Lei Jun said the EV unit plans to open 16 new stores this month.