Image Source : China Visual

BEIJING, May 4 (TMTPOST) —11 Chinese new energy vehicle (NEV) brands saw a month-on-month increase in their April deliveries, a clear sign of a rebound in the Chinese NEV market.

According to data released by 14 NEV companies, four NEV brands delivered more than 10,000 units in April, namely AION, Li Auto, Hozon Auto, and Tengshi Auto. AION’s deliveries exceeded 40,000 units in a single month, and Li Auto's deliveries also surpassed 20,000 units for two consecutive months. But NIO, which had stable deliveries of 10,000 units in months and aimed to deliver more than 20,000 units in a single month, delivered a surprising result in April —— 6,658 units in a single month, down 36% from the previous month, making it the most underperforming new energy car brand in April.

Li Auto saw the biggest year-over-year growth of its deliveries in April, increasing more than five times from the same period of last year, while XPENG Motor had the biggest year-on-year decline. Rising Auto achieved an increase of over 50% in deliveries, while NIO experienced the largest decrease of 36% in the same period.

AION has delivered more than 40,000 units for two consecutive months and is the only new energy vehicle brand with monthly sales of over 40,000 units. However, the best-selling models of AION were AION S and AION Y, which are priced at 100,000 yuan to 150,000 yuan.

The sales of Zeeker and Deepal stabilized at around 8,000 units in April. The next target for these two brands is to boost sales. Zeeker announced the price of its third production model Zeeker X. Positioned as a compact SUV, Zeeker X will be the key for Zeeker to hit its sales target of 140,000 units this year. As of the end of April, the cumulative deliveries of Zeeker this year were around 25,000 units, which means that to complete the annual target, the average monthly sales for the remaining 8 months should reach about 15,000 units.

Deepal's sales target for this year is 200,000 units, which is relatively challenging. At present, only the medium-sized sedan SL03 is on sale under Deepal, and the medium-sized SUV Deepal S7 is expected to be launched in the middle of the year. This means that in order to complete the annual sales target of 200,000 units, the next average monthly sales of Deepal should exceed 20,000 units.

The once sluggish Dongfeng Motor’s Voyah and SAIC's iM Motors and Rising Auto showed an upward momentum in April. Voyah's sales exceeded 3,000 units, iM Motors sold more than 2,000 units, and Rising Auto sold more than 1,000 units after bidding farewell to its previous triple-digit monthly sales. Whether they can continue their upward momentum will be the main issue for these brands to consider in May

Of the over 100 new car makers set up around 2015, only five new brands, including NIO, Li Auto, XPeng Motor, Leap Motor, and Hozon Auto, remain robust.