Chinese automakers BYD, Leapmotor and Xiaomi smash annual delivery targets ahead of schedule
BYD Song L electric cars at the 21st Changchun International Automobile Expo in Changchun, Jilin province, China, on July 17, 2024.
Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images
SINGAPORE — Chinese automakers BYD, Leapmotor, and Xiaomi have raced past their annual delivery targets a month ahead of schedule, underscoring their rapid growth and strong market demand as the year comes to a close.
Electric vehicle juggernaut BYD delivered 504,003 passenger vehicles in November, up from last month’s 500,526. Its cumulative deliveries for passenger cars stand at 3,740,930, exceeding its initial full-year target of 3.6 million deliveries.
Meanwhile, Stellantis-backed Leapmotor saw 40,169 deliveries in November, up 5.22% from the previous month and 117% year on year. The company has delivered 251,207 cars year-to-date, surpassing its 250,000 annual delivery target.
Xiaomi, likewise, achieved the feat of surpassing its annual target of 100,000 deliveries midway through November. The company launched its first car, the SU7, in March this year.
For the full month of November, the Chinese phonemaker company delivered more than 20,000 cars for the second consecutive month this year. Xiaomi has revised its target to 130,000 deliveries by the end of the year.
Chinese electric carmaker Zeekr said Sunday it delivered 27,011 cars in November, beating the previous month’s record by 7.83%, and increasing by 106% year on year.
This month’s deliveries brings its full year’s deliveries to 194,933 — only slightly short of its full-year delivery target of 230,000 vehicles.
The Geely-backed automaker began deliveries of its new five-seater SUV Zeekr Mix on Oct. 23.
Xpeng also achieved an all-time best with 30,895 deliveries in November, up 29% from the previous month.
The deliveries included the company’s mass-market car, Mona M03, which exceeded 10,000 deliveries for the third consecutive month. Xpeng launched Mona M03 in late August with prices starting at $16,812, while Tesla’s cheapest car, the Model 3, starts at 231,900 yuan ($31,897).
Xpeng’s November deliveries also included more than 7,000 deliveries of the P7+, which launched Nov. 7 and received 31,528 orders by midnight that day.
Premium brand Nio delivered 20,575 cars in November, up 28.9% year on year. Deliveries included 5,082 vehicles from its lower-priced brand Onvo, which was launched in September.
In a Nov. 20 earnings call, the company said it aimed to deliver between 72,000 and 75,000 cars in the fourth quarter. That means Nio has to deliver at least 30,449 cars in December to meet the minimum target.
Nio will also launch its Firefly brand on Dec. 21, CEO William Li said in the same call. Co-founder and president Qin Lihong confirmed to local media last month that the car would be purely electric, refuting local media claims of a potential hybrid model.
Nio’s full-year delivery target for 2024, derived from quarterly guidance, ranges from 218,000 to 227,000 deliveries. Per CNBC’s calculations, Nio has delivered a total of 190,832 cars year-to-date.
The company shared plans to double electric car deliveries next year in the earnings call, with a target of 20,000 Onvo cars per month by March 2025.
Li Auto, whose cars mostly come with a fuel tank to extend the battery’s driving range, delivered 48,740 cars in November, down 5.25% from October’s deliveries. As of end-November, the company delivered 441,995 cars out of its annual goal of 480,000.
The company previously aimed to deliver 800,000 cars for the full year, but cut its target in June.
Huawei-backed Aito did not disclose its November deliveries, but announced on Nov. 27 that it had delivered over 180,000 units of the M7.
And amid the intensifying price war in China, American automaker Tesla cut prices by 10,000 yuan for its Model Y through Dec. 31. With the discount, the Model Y now retails at 239,900 yuan.
Chinese electric scooter manufacturer NIU Technologies (NASDAQ: NIU) is experiencing a remarkable surge in 2025, with its stock price nearly doubling year-to-date. This impressive performance is fueled by a significant increase in electric moped sales, particularly within its domestic market, despite facing challenges such as international tariffs and rising freight costs.
Domestic market is driving growth
In the first quarter of 2025, NIU reported a 57.4% year-over-year increase in e-scooter sales, totaling 203,313 units. Notably, 183,065 of these units were sold in China, marking a 66.2% increase compared to the same period last year.
This domestic growth was boosted by China’s consumer trade-in program, which incentivizes the replacement of older scooters with newer, more efficient models.
The company’s revenue for Q1 2025 reached RMB 682.0 million (approximately US $94 million), a 35.1% increase from the previous year. However, the average revenue per e-scooter decreased by 14.2% to RMB 3,354, indicating a shift towards more affordable models.
NIU CEO Yan Li explained: “In China, we are advancing our intelligent product development strategy by integrating automotive-grade technologies such as millimeter-wave radar, dual-channel ABS, and AI Smart Ecosystem to enhance the user experience. Our retail network has continued to expand in-line with our expectations, with new stores opening during the quarter. This synergistic combination of product innovation and omni-channel growth is driving measurable increases in domestic sales and market penetration.”
International challenges remain
While domestic sales certainly provided strong tailwinds for NIU, international markets still present challenges for the company. Sales outside China grew by a modest 6.4%, totaling 20,248 units. Factors such as US tariffs and increased freight costs were noted in NIU’s Q1 2025 earnings report as impacting international margins. Despite these hurdles, international sales contributed RMB 60 million (approximately US $8 million) to the quarterly revenue, a 22.4% increase year-over-year.
NIU’s gross margin declined to 17.3% from 18.9% in the same quarter last year, reflecting the pressure from international trade policies and logistics costs. Nevertheless, the company’s net loss narrowed to RMB 38.8 million, down from RMB 54.8 million in Q1 2024, indicating improved operational efficiency. While still operating at a net loss of around US 5.4 million, these numbers indicate a strong turnaround for the company – reflected by the nearly doubling of NIU’s stock price so far in 2025.
Looking ahead, NIU is anticipating continued growth and projecting Q2 2025 revenue to increase by 40% to 50% year-over-year. The company says it is also exploring strategies to mitigate international challenges, such as diversifying its production and focusing on markets less affected by tariffs.
As Li continued, “Globally, the market is undergoing structural shifts, with US trade policies experiencing increased volatility. However, we are leveraging innovation and agile infrastructure to mitigate geopolitical challenges, enabling sustainable global growth through proactive production adjustments.”
Electrek’s Take
If you’re a NIU fan like I am, this is great news that helps claw back some of the losses seen in the last couple of years. The entire micromobility sector has navigated choppy waters after the pandemic bubble burst, and NIU was certainly not immune to the drop in sales. But these numbers paint a promising return that industry analysts and scooter riders who depend on the company alike have been hoping for.
I visited NIU’s factory a few months ago and saw firsthand how much care and precision goes into building its millions of electric two-wheelers. That kind of in-depth look is rare in this industry, and it gave me keen insight into what separates NIU’s high-tech and high-design models from much of the industry.
Now it seems that sales are starting to catch back up to where such innovative pieces of tech deserve to be. Here’s to hoping for another good quarter to follow.
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On today’s sunny side up episode of Quick Charge, we take a look at the latest from the world of solar power, and discuss Congressional Republicans’ plans to limit your energy independence by eliminating a critical tax credit for homeowners nearly ten years early. (!)
We’ve also got a quick review of a massive solar farm powering 200,000 homes in Indiana and the biggest solar project East of the Mississippi – both part of a record 98% of all new power generation and grid capacity introduced in 2025 coming from wind and solar. Those are jobs, those are lower utility rates, those are energy independence … so why are Congressional Republicans working to make that more expensive?
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A Waymo autonomous vehicle drives along Masonic Avenue on April 11, 2022 in San Francisco, California.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Alphabet’s Waymo unit has received approval to expand its autonomous ride-hailing service to more parts of the San Francisco Bay Area, including San Jose.
In March, the company submitted a request to the California Public Utilities Commission to gain approval for its latest passenger safety plan, a key step in gaining permission to operate driverless vehicles across a broader area. On Monday, the proposed expansion was approved, allowing for Waymo’s driverless coverage to extend from San Francisco down through the Peninsula.
“We’re very excited to share that the CPUC has approved our application to operate our fully autonomous commercial ride-hailing service in the South Bay and nearly all of San Jose!” the company wrote in a post on X on Monday. “While this won’t change our operations in the near-term, we’re looking forward to bringing the benefits of Waymo One to more of the Bay Area in the future.”
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