Electric Vehicle giant BYD along with China startups Li Auto, XPeng, Nio and Zeekr reported record monthly sales Wednesday. The China electric-vehicle price war intensified in December, with BYD and Tesla among those slashing prices in a year-end EV sales push.
Electric Vehicle makers are already extending and expanding discounts for January 2025.
In December, China EV sales were expected to reach 1.4 million units, jumping almost 48% year on year and growing 10% from November according to the China Passenger Car Association.
That would mark the fifth consecutive month of retail passenger EV sales above 1 million units in 2024. But analysts warn of a race to the bottom as cutthroat competition and overcapacity threaten smaller and unprofitable makers of electric cars.
Few are profitable, besides BYD, Tesla and Li. The expiry of a Chinese government EV subsidy on December 31, 2024 is likely to squeeze smaller players further, the South China Morning Post reported over the weekend.
On the back of booming sales in China and elsewhere, BYD surpassed its annual sales target of 4 million electric vehicles with just over 4.27 million, up 41.3% vs. 2023. That could see the EV giant overtake Honda and Ford in 2024 global sales, according to various reports.
Li Auto reported December sales of 58,513 for a full-year total of 500,508, up 33.1%. It’s the first time an EV startup has exceeded 500,000. Q4 deliveries were 158,916, slightly below its target of 160,000-170,000.
XPeng deliveries surged to 36,695 in December, up 82.4% vs. a year earlier and 18.8% vs. November. Credit its new P7+ and sub-brand Mona M03. Q4 sales hit 91,507, just above its forecasts for 87,000-91,000. Full-year deliveries swelled 34.2% to 190,068.
Nio deliveries came in at 31,318, up 72.9% vs. a year earlier and 51.3% vs. November. Deliveries for the Onvo L60, a Tesla Model Y rival, topped 10,000, suggesting production for the new sub-brand is ramping up.
Q4 sales were 72,689, in the lower end of its guidance for 72,000-75,000. For the full year, Nio delivered 221,970 vehicles, up 38.7%.
Zeekr sales came in 27,190 for December, its fourth straight record month. Q4 sales surged 99.8% vs. a year earlier to 79,250, bringing the full-year total to 222,123. Zeekr did not provide Q4 guidance.
Early last week, BYD slashed Sealion hybrid-electric SUV prices by almost 12% to woo more customers ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, SCMP reported.
Also last week, Tesla cut the price of its made-in China Model Y SUV by 4%. Since then, BYD has discounted more EV models, including the Song and Qin.
Tesla is due to report global Q4 sales in coming days, and analysts expect record EV deliveries. However, investors are hoping for Tesla EV unit sales growth in 2024, which is more uncertain.
Led by BYD and Tesla, China EV sales are expected to exceed 11 million units this year, up from more than 8 million last year. In 2025, China is on course to sell more electric vehicles than traditional vehicles with internal combustion engines for the first time.
Market watchers say the country could achieve its goal for electric vehicles to make up half of new vehicles sales by next year, a decade ahead of schedule and well ahead of the West.
Investors Business Daily / ABC Flash Point News 2024.
America has been beaten
And European car brands lost as well, although they have factories in China as well.