Geely’s SEA architecture for cars allows vehicles of different sizes to be manufactured at the same factory.
CNBC | Evelyn Cheng
BEIJING — Chinese electric car company Zeekr said Monday it delivered a record number of vehicles in June, making its deliveries for the first half of the year the largest among U.S.-listed Chinese companies only selling pure electric cars.
Geely-owned Zeekr delivered 20,106 cars last month, bringing year-to-date deliveries to 87,870 vehicles.
That’s slightly more than Nio‘s 87,426 deliveries for the first six months of 2024, although Nio continued to recover from sluggish performance earlier in the year with a record 21,209 deliveries in June.
Xpeng remained a laggard, delivering 52,028 cars in total in the first six months of the year, including 10,668 vehicles in June.
When including hybrid vehicles, Li Auto remained by far the leader. It delivered 47,774 cars in June, for a first-half total of 188,981 vehicles. Most of the company’s cars come with a fuel tank to extend the battery’s driving range.
Shares of Zeekr fell by 3.2% in U.S. trading overnight, while Li Auto and Nio both saw shares rise by more than 6%. Xpeng shares rose by nearly 5.2%.
Also offering hybrids, Huawei’s jointly developed Aito brand with car manufacturer Seres delivered 184,286 vehicles in the first six months of the year.
Smartphone and home appliance company Xiaomi said it has delivered more than 10,000 cars in June, bringing total deliveries to more than 25,000 since the Hong Kong-listed company launched its electric SU7 in late March.
BYD delivered 1.6 million new energy passenger vehicles in the first half of the year, up nearly 29% from a year ago. Plug-in hybrid cars accounted for a slightly greater share than battery electric vehicles, and saw faster growth at 39.5% versus 17.7% for battery-only cars.
That reflects how much of China’s new energy vehicle sales are being driven by hybrid-powered vehicles rather than purely battery-powered ones as range anxiety remains a top concern for consumers in China.
Car companies need to improve the battery charging process, Wan Gang, the man credited with spearheading China’s electric car strategy, said at a conference last week.
China’s new energy vehicle sales have risen this year to account for 47% of all passenger cars sold in May, according to China Passenger Car Association data, which provides figures mid-month for the prior month. That’s up from 32% penetration at the start of the year.
As part of efforts to boost consumption, China this year has launched a trade-in policy to incentivize new energy vehicle sales. Many companies have also slashed prices to remain competitive, and revealed new cars at the Beijing auto show, which ended May 5.