BEIJING, October 3  (TMTPOST)—Tesla’s Chinese rivals posted mixed results in delivery last month. BYD Co. is further consolidating its position as the largest electric vehicle (EV) maker in China, while Xpeng Inc turned from a leader to laggard in prominent emerging EV startups in the country.

Source: Visual China

BYD sold 201,259 new energy vehicles (NEVs) in September, increasing 183.07% from a year earlier, according to a filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange on Monday. This is the first time for the Chinese EV giant to sell more than 200,000 vehicles, and the sales represent a 15% growth from previous month’s record.  

As of September, BYD has set monthly sales record for the seventh consecutive month, and its sales maintained triple-digit monthly growth since entering into 2022.The cumulative sales in the first nine months of the year jumped to 1,180,054 vehicles, with a year-over-year (YoY) increase of 249.56%.

The achievement highlights BYD’s robust growth in green energy as the automaker has ceased the production of cars powered only by internal combustion engines since March, completely shifting to production of battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.

Xpeng announced Monday that it delivered 8,468 EVs in September, representing a 18.67% YoY decrease and a 11.59% month-over-month (MoM) decrease. However, its domestic peers still boast rapid growth.

September saw Aion, an EV brand under the state-owned manufacturer Guangzhou Automobile Group Co., Ltd. (GAC), shipped 30,016 vehicles, up 121% YoY and 11.08% MoM. AITO, a brand jointly developed by Huawei and Chongqing Sokon's brand Seres, refreshed its monthly record to 10,142 vehicles and delivered more than 10,000 units for the second straight month. HOZON Auto’s brand Nezha broke another record with the delivery of 18,005 vehicles and YoY increase of 134%, suggesting positive growth for 27 months in a row. In September, NIO delivered 10,878 vehicles with 23.52%YoY growth and 1.88% MoM growth, bringing its delivery in the third quarter to 31,607 units, a new quarterly high with 29.3%.

Li Auto, the EV maker that unveiled similar sluggish delivery in August as Xpeng, managed to keep up  with other competitors as its shipment rose 62.5% YoY to 11,531 vehicles in September, 2.5 times more than that of the previous month which recorded a 33% yearly increase.