Monthly Report: August Brings Success to New Generation Car Companies
Author: Novice driver
It’s that time of the month again when new generation car companies announce their delivery performance. I believe many of you are eagerly waiting for it. In August, the most outstanding delivery performance was achieved by the Ideal Automobile, breaking through the 9000 mark after surpassing 8000 deliveries in July. Another company worth noting is NIO. Its August delivery volume is approaching the top new car companies, rising to third place in the list.
Although the delivery volume of Xpeng Motors in August has declined, it still ranked second. Additionally, NIO has experienced a larger drop in sales and fell to fourth place. Let’s take a closer look at the sales changes in August.
Ideal Automobile: Rapid Growth, Expected to Achieve Over 10,000 Sales in September
In August, Ideal achieved another good result, delivering 9433 Ideal ONEs, a MoM increase of 9.8% and a YoY increase of 248%. The total delivery volume of Ideal Automobile for the first eight months of 2021 reached 48,176, while the cumulative delivery volume of Ideal ONE has reached 81,773.
In May of this year, Shen Yanan, the co-founder and CEO of Ideal Automobile, set a target of achieving over 10,000 sales in September of this year. Judging by the current upward trend, there is no doubt that this goal can be achieved.
With only one model, the Ideal ONE, the Ideal Automobile has sold over 9,000 vehicles. The most important thing is that the vehicle is precisely positioned and captures the target group. The Ideal ONE has certain advantages among the new generation car companies and can highlight distinctive selling points. Firstly, it is a six-seater SUV that fits the Chinese market. In the field of new energy vehicles, the use of range extension technology to solve user pain points creates differentiated competition with many pure electric vehicles. Secondly, the selling point of the vehicle configuration is “no need for optional packages, all standard.” The price below 350,000 RMB has strong competitiveness for traditional car companies in the same class.
According to Ideal Automobile’s previously released new car plans, it will launch a full-size luxury range-extended SUV in 2022 and will introduce two pure electric SUVs in 2023.
Xpeng Motors: Steady Development, P7 Still Strong
NIO delivered 7214 vehicles in August, a month-on-month decrease of 10.3% but a year-on-year increase of 172.3%. NIO’s cumulative deliveries from January to August this year reached 45992 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 334%. It is worth noting that NIO delivered 6165 P7s this month, accounting for 85.4% of the total deliveries for the month, and has achieved a new historic high for four consecutive months.
Although NIO’s delivery volume in August was 826 units less than the previous month, we can see that the recognition of NIO P7 by consumers is quite high as P7 continues to refresh records. In addition, NIO completed the production switchover from G3 to G3i in August and will enter the mass delivery stage in September. The new G3i will contribute more to NIO’s sales performance.
In addition, NIO’s P5 will also be officially launched on September 15th, and the specific price will be announced at that time. Delivery will begin in October, and NIO’s sales performance in the future is also very promising.
NIO surpasses NIO to enter the top three
Li Auto delivered 6613 vehicles in August, a month-on-month increase of 10% and a year-on-year increase of 449%. Li Auto’s cumulative deliveries from January to August 2021 reached 33728 vehicles, and Li Auto has already delivered more than 60,000 vehicles. It is noteworthy that Li Auto surpassed NIO to enter the top three in August, showing a very good growth trend.
Li Auto’s monthly sales have grown this year, largely due to its product layout in the SUV segment and fair price. Li Auto currently has three SUV models, namely Li ONE, Li Xiang ONE and Li AUTO ONE, covering the popular small SUV and compact SUV markets.
In addition, the strategic cooperation with 360 also greatly increased Li Auto’s popularity in a short period of time, which may be one of the key factors driving the growth in sales. However, Li Auto entered the third place this month also because of NIO’s decline in sales. Overall, Li Auto still needs to work harder to truly enter the top tier. While providing affordable prices, Li Auto must also ensure product quality. With the help of 360, it is believed that Li Auto can greatly improve its product competitiveness and enter a larger market of competitors.
NIO: Ranks fourth but still sets new records
On this month’s ranking list, the delivery volume of NIO is unexpected. Since breaking through 8,000 vehicles in June, it has gradually slipped from the top spot to fourth place. In August, NIO delivered a total of 5,880 vehicles, down 25.9% month-on-month but up 48.3% year-on-year. In terms of specific models, the ES8 delivered 1,738 vehicles in August, the ES6 delivered 2,342 vehicles, and the EC6 delivered 1,800 vehicles. However, the cumulative sales volume from January to August this year stands at 55,767 vehicles, which is still the highest among new forces.
What caused the “big brother” among new forces to suddenly fall out of the top three? Are the cars not selling well?
It seems that this is not the case. NIO officially stated that the limited supply of certain parts in Malaysia and Nanjing, China, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly affected the production of ES6 and EC6, which in turn affected the delivery volume in August.
Additionally, it is worth noting that NIO’s order volume continued to grow in August, once again hitting a historical high in terms of new orders. However, the exact quantity was not disclosed, only announcing that the latest delivery guidance for Q3 is 22,500 to 23,500 vehicles.
Leapmotor: Over 7,000 orders for T03 support the entire business
Leapmotor, although slow, is at least growing, with a relatively stable growth trend. In August, Leapmotor delivered a total of 4,488 vehicles, with a month-on-month growth of 1.9% and a year-on-year growth of 720%. Among them, 4,409 were Leapmotor T03, accounting for 98% of the total. From this, we can estimate that the sales volume of another model, the Leapmotor S01, is 79 vehicles.
Since the beginning of this year, Leapmotor has delivered a total of 21,937 vehicles and has received 35,662 orders. In addition, in August, Leapmotor’s orders surpassed 7,000, reaching 7,607, of which 7,228 were Leapmotor T03, accounting for 95% of the total.
From this point of view, the performance of LI Auto seems a bit lopsided. The LI T03, this cute little car, can support the entire month’s sales, also benefiting from the recent hot micro-car market. The continuous growth of LI T03, along with the continuous recognition by consumers, we also hope to see LI’s layout in other niche markets.
In addition, at the recently opened Chengdu Auto Show, the LI T03 model has added a luxury Pro version and a Weitang version, with slight changes in color and configuration. The new version of the car will also continue to contribute to the sales of LI. Besides, another popular model of LI, the LI C11, is expected to enter the SOP production phase officially in September and is expected to be delivered successively in October.
Final Words
Overall, various new forces in the auto industry have shown different degrees of growth, but only in Ideal and NIO’s performance was more prominent this month. Ideal Auto is striving to achieve the goals it set earlier, and NIO’s efforts can also deliver visible results. On the other hand, we can also see that just in the scope of new forces, the competition has become very fierce, and we can feel the fast pace of its development. The distance between car companies will only shorten over time, and then we will be able to see the real champions.
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.