Author: Jingtao Wu
“Li Xialian’s” performance in the fourth quarter is highly anticipated.
Happy National Day! I wish you all a safe and enjoyable holiday.
On October 1st, while welcoming the National Day, it is also time for the monthly ranking of new car sales – the release of the sales data for September.
In September, new car brands emerged one after another, with several heavyweight models released. The Wuling M5 EV, XPeng G9, Leapmotor C01, Ideal L8 were all launched and the NIO ET5 started deliveries. Compared to the challenging and opportunistic situation in August, the new car market in September presented a vibrant and diverse landscape.
Reminder: Both BYD and Tesla have not yet released their September sales figures!
NIO Inc.: 18,005 Deliveries in September and 111,190 in Year-to-date Accumulative Deliveries
In September, NIO delivered 18,005 new vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 134%.
For the first nine months of this year, NIO delivered a total of 111,190 vehicles, an increase of 168% compared to the same period last year.
NIO has undoubtedly become the biggest dark horse in the new car market this year. In August, NIO topped the monthly new car sales chart for the third time, with a delivery volume of more than 18,000 vehicles for both the NIO Utralight vehicle and the NIO ES series.
NIO’s cumulative deliveries this year have surpassed 100,000, reaching 111,190.
As early as the NIO S launch event in August, NIO stated that its next goal is to become the top new force automaker in terms of year-to-date accumulative deliveries.In August, NIO surpassed Xpeng to become the new car brand with the highest cumulative delivery volume in the whole year. In September, NIO continued to lead and expanded its lead.
NIO’s flagship sports car, the ES8, shoulders the mission of enhancing the brand image of NIO. Its order volume has exceeded 15,000 vehicles. We are looking forward to the early delivery of the ES8, to see if it can help NIO continue to hold the top spot in the ranking list under the strong impact of Wei Xiaoli in the third quarter.
IDEAL: 11,531 deliveries in September, 86,927 cumulative deliveries this year
“In September, Ideal Cars delivered 11,531 new vehicles, an increase of 62.54% YoY and 152.26% MoM.”
Cumulatively, Ideal Cars has delivered 86,927 vehicles from January to September this year, an increase of 57.27% YoY.
Due to the time node of L9’s delivery and L8’s information disclosure, Ideal Cars entered a brief “awkward period” in August, with a monthly delivery volume of only 4,571 units, second only to April affected by the epidemic, making it the second trough of the year.
However, we estimated that this awkward period would soon pass with L9’s comprehensive delivery. As expected, Ideal Cars made a strong recovery in September, delivering 11,531 new vehicles.
Among them, Ideal L9 reached 10,123 units in the first full month of delivery, helping Ideal, which ranked only seventh last month, to leap to second place on the leaderboard this month.
Ideal L9 also became the first Chinese brand vehicle model with a single-month delivery volume of over 10,000 and a price of over RMB400,000.
On September 30th, Ideal held a press conference to launch the upgraded version of the Ideal ONE – the six-seater mid-to-large SUV Ideal L8, and the five-seater mid-to-large SUV Ideal L7.
Both new cars are available in two configurations: Pro and Max.
“L8 is priced at RMB359,800 for the Pro model and RMB399,800 for the Max model, and is expected to begin delivery in November.”
The L7 is priced at 339,800 yuan for the Pro model and 379,800 yuan for the Max model, with delivery expected to begin in February next year.
@Electric Vehicle Master was one of the first people to have a static experience with the IDEAL L8, and interested friends can take a look at the video:
Li Xiang, CEO of IDEAL Automotive, once said on Weibo that after the IDEAL L8, the updated model of IDEAL ONE, was unveiled, the sales of IDEAL ONE were significantly affected. Now, with the monthly sales of IDEAL L9 exceeding 10,000 units in its first month, IDEAL L8, as the replacement of IDEAL ONE, is making a strong comeback. The sales performance of IDEAL in the fourth quarter is expected to be very promising.
Leading Ideal Auto: 11,039 vehicles delivered in September and 87,602 delivered this year to date.
Leading Ideal Auto delivered 11,039 new vehicles in September, up 169.57% from the same period last year.
From January to September of this year, a total of 87,602 vehicles were delivered, a year-on-year increase of 152.23%.
Thanks to their excellent cost performance in their respective niche markets, the sales of Leading Ideal’s T03 and C11 have been good this year. Although the total delivery volume has declined compared to August, this is already the sixth consecutive month of delivery exceeding 10,000 vehicles.
On September 28th, Leading Ideal Auto officially launched and announced the price of the pure electric medium and large sedan, the Leading Ideal C01. It is available in 5 models, with prices ranging from 193,800 to 286,800 yuan.
The new car offers two powertrain layouts: single-motor and dual-motor. The maximum power of the single-motor version is 200 kW, and the peak torque is 360 N·m; the maximum power of the dual-motor version is 400 kW, and the peak torque is 720 N·m. Four CLTC ranges are available: 525 km, 606 km, 630 km, and 717 km.
Previously, the official announcement from Leapmotor stated that the C01 had already received 100,000 pre-orders before its launch. On the day after its launch, September 29, Leapmotor announced that the total value of new orders for the C01 had surpassed CNY 1 billion. If calculated based on a unit price of CNY 200,000 per vehicle, the number of new orders would be 5,000.
Currently, the first batch of C01 deliveries has been initiated. October will be the first complete delivery month for the C01 flagship model. With the support of the flagship model, let’s wait and see if Leapmotor’s delivery volume in October can hit a new high.
NIO delivered 10,878 new vehicles in September, a year-on-year increase of 2%, marking the fourth consecutive month of delivery above 10,000 units. The cumulative deliveries for January to September this year reached 82,436 units, a year-on-year increase of 24.2%. In the third quarter, 31,607 new vehicles were delivered, a year-on-year increase of 29.3%, reaching a new quarterly delivery record.
In terms of specific vehicle models, the delivery volume of SUVs totaled 7,729 units, including 1,895 for the NT2-platform ES7 and 5,834 for the NT1-platform ES8, ES6, and EC6. The delivery volume of sedans totaled 3,149 units, including 2,928 for the ET7 and 221 for the ET5.
With the rise in ES7 deliveries, the sales of the “866” three SUV models on the NT1 platform have declined somewhat. The most attention-grabbing model this month for NIO is without a doubt the “hot-selling model” ET5, which officially began production and delivery to users on September 30, delivering 221 units on the first day.In September, we participated in the dynamic test drive event held by ET5. Friends who are interested in the dynamic performance of ET5 can review the video below:
On the day when the blind order locking was opened on September 9th, the order quantity of NIO ET5 had already covered the entire production capacity of 2022. According to the information revealed at the NIO Q2 conference call, ET5 will achieve over ten thousand deliveries in December, which poses another huge challenge for NIO’s production capacity.
In mid-September, some netizens found that NIO had added the display of the estimated delivery time after ordering and scheduling production on the purchase page. The longest wait time is for the ET5, which can take up to 22-24 weeks.
In October, ET5 will usher in its first full delivery month. For a popular model like ET5, sales are naturally not a concern. What is worth our attention is the production capacity ramp-up and delivery status.
QWJ: 10,142 deliveries in September, 45,759 cumulative deliveries this year
In September, QWJ series delivered 10,142 new vehicles, and a total of 45,759 new vehicles were delivered from January to September this year.
Following the achievement of the QWJ series breaking the ten thousand monthly deliveries mark for the first time in August and creating the fastest record of domestic new energy vehicle brand delivery exceeding ten thousand in a single month, the QWJ series deliveries reached a new high in September, achieving over ten thousand deliveries for two consecutive months.
On September 6th, AITO QWJ launched its first pure electric SUV- QWJ M5 EV, which is also the third new energy vehicle product released by the QWJ series within a year. The price is 288,600 yuan for the rear-wheel drive standard version and 319,800 yuan for the four-wheel drive performance version.On the evening after the press conference, WM Motor announced that the number of orders for the M5 EV had exceeded 30,000.
For more detailed information about the WM Motor M5 EV, please refer to the article “Is This New Car from Huawei’s WM Motor Better Than Tesla?“, which was published when the car was first launched.
XPeng: 8,468 vehicles delivered in September and 98,553 delivered in the year-to-date
XPeng delivered 8,468 new cars in September.
As of September, the company has delivered 82,436 vehicles in the first nine months of the year, a year-on-year increase of 74.72%, exceeding the total number of deliveries for the full year of 2021.
The specific delivery data for each model is as follows:
XPeng P7: 4,634 delivered; XPeng P5: 2,417 delivered; XPeng G3i: 1,233 delivered; XPeng G9: 184 delivered in the first batch.
In September, XPeng’s delivery volume continued to decline, and its ranking on the list dropped by one to sixth place. The cumulative delivery volume for the year was 12,600 units behind that of the first-ranked NIO.
Similar to the situation in August, XPeng’s main model, the P7, has been in a state of slight decline due to the upcoming facelift and strong consumer wait-and-see sentiment.
The new flagship model, G9, has not yet been fully delivered, so its impact on September deliveries is not significant. On the first day that XPeng G9 opened its pre-order channel in August, the number of new car orders reached 22,819.
If G9’s production and delivery capacity can climb smoothly in October, XPeng’s delivery volume in October should experience a significant increase.
Li Auto: 8,276 vehicles delivered in September and 39,438 delivered in the year-to-date
In August, Xpeng Motors delivered 8,276 Xpeng P7 vehicles, an increase of 15.49% month-over-month, setting a new monthly delivery record.
From January to September this year, Xpeng reached 39,438 deliveries. Since the start of deliveries, Xpeng has delivered 45,481 cars. In Q3, Xpeng delivered a total of 20,464 cars, up 90% year-over-year, with an average order value exceeding RMB 336,000 (~USD 52,333).
In September, Xpeng added 30 new stores, bringing its total to over 200 nationwide, and expanded its self-built charging infrastructure into 100 cities, with a total of 500 stations.
On September 20, NVIDIA unveiled its next-generation intelligent automotive chip, called Thor, with a computing power of up to 2000TOPS at the 2022 Fall GTC conference.
During the conference, three partners were announced for NVIDIA’s Drive Thor platform, including Xpeng. The new chip will be first launched on Xpeng vehicles, and Xpeng will be the first to test Thor.
He Chong: September deliveries reached 3,011, up by 58.2% month-over-month
In September, He Chong delivered 3,011 Z03s, an increase of 58.2% compared to August.
Leading Ideal: September sales reach 2,519, with total deliveries reaching 20,410
In September, Leading Ideal sold 2,519 cars, up by 177.42% year-over-year, continuing its four-month growth streak, with an average transaction price of RMB 370,000 (~USD 57,638).
Since its first delivery in August 2021, Leading Ideal has delivered 20,410 cars.
Evergrande Auto: September sales reached 30,016, and cumulative sales reached 182,321 this year
The new car maker, Evergrande Auto, dealt a blow to other new car makers by selling 30,016 cars in September. Its cumulative sales this year reached 182,321.In September, GAC Aion sold 30,016 vehicles, an increase of 121% year-on-year, setting a new monthly sales record and continuing to exceed 20,000 units for the fifth consecutive month.
From January to September this year, GAC Aion’s cumulative sales have reached 182,321 vehicles, an increase of 132% year-on-year.
In September, GAC Aion had frequent movements in both brand and product areas. On September 6th, the Inaugural Meeting of GAC Aion New Energy Automobile Co., Ltd. and its First Shareholders’ Meeting were successfully held, resolving the establishment of GAC Aion New Energy Automobile Co., Ltd., declaring the completion of Aion’s shareholding system reform.
On September 15th, GAC Aion held its first brand night in Guangzhou after the completion of mixed-ownership reform. At the event, GAC Aion unveiled its new brand logo – “AI Magic Arrow”.
During the conference, Aion also launched its brand-new high-end brand Hyper Haobo, and together with the new high-end brand, Aion also released the first new car of Haobo brand – the pure electric supercar Hyper SSR.
The maximum horsepower of the new car is as high as 1225ps, and the peak torque on the wheel can reach 12000N·m. The acceleration time of the race version from 0-100km/h is only 1.9 seconds.
On September 27th, Aion also launched a new model – AION Y Plus. The new car has a total of six models with two different battery capacities of 510km and 610km, priced from 1.398 million yuan to 1.798 million yuan.
Aion stated that after the second factory is put into production, it will move towards the monthly sales target of 50,000 or even 100,000.
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.