China's Tesla Challengers NIO Inc. and XPeng Both Report Record Electric Vehicle Deliveries in June

author: Eric Walz   

The NIO ES6 electric coupe.

China's New Energy Vehicle market, which includes fully-electric and hybrid vehicles, is heating up. Two of China's newest EV startups, NIO Inc. and XPeng, have reported record sales for the month of June to close out the second quarter of the year.  

NIO announced on Wednesday its monthly deliveries reached a record high of 8,083 units in June, surging 116.1% from a year ago and jumping 20.4% from May. The deliveries consisted of 1,498 ES8s SUVs, 3,755 ES6s SUVs, and 2,830 of NIO's newest EV, the EC6 crossover.

For the first half of this year, NIO's cumulative deliveries amounted to 41,956 units, accounting for 95.9% of the annual volume for all of last year with six months still remaining in the year.

While XPeng achieved its highest-ever monthly deliveries ever with 6,565 new vehicles delivered in June, representing a 617% year-over-year surge and a 15% month-on-month growth, the company reported on Wednesday.

Xpeng's total deliveries for Q2 included 17,398 electric vehicles, representing a 439% increase year-over-year.

XPeng's June delivery breakdown consisted of 4,730 units of its flagship P7 sedan and 1,835 G3 SUVs, the company's first vehicle which launched in 2018. It was the first time that monthly sales of the P7 sedan topped 4,000 vehicles since its launch. The P7 launched in April 2020 as a more affordable competitor to the Tesla Model S in China. 

Xpeng's P7 sedan is an advanced electric car that offers up to a 429-mile range, as well as autonomous driving capabilities. The P7 offers the latest and most advanced version of XPeng's autonomous driving feature called Navigation Guided Pilot (NGP). It began rolling out to P7 owners via an OTA update beginning in January. It has the ability to autonomously change lanes on highways to pass slower moving traffic. 

"The P7's Navigation Guided Pilot (NGP) highway solutions are attracting wide customer appeal, reinforcing the Company's commitment to technology innovation," said XPeng.

XPeng plans to launch a refreshed version of the G3 SUV later this month called the "G3i." Deliveries are planned for September.

XPeng is also getting ready to launch its third production model named the P5 in the third quarter of this year, which the company says is a more family-friendly EV. Deliveries expected to start in the fourth quarter 2021. The P5 will be the world's first mass-produced Smart EV equipped with lidar during production to support autonomous driving.

The XPeng P7 sedan.

Meanwhile, XPeng's rival NIO reported total deliveries of 117,597 vehicles as of June 30, 2021. 

NIO is often referred to as the "Tesla of China." The company was founded in 2014 Chinese entrepreneur William Bin Li, who serves as the company's CEO. Last year, Forbes estimated Li's net worth to be US$8.1 billion. 

NIO is backed by Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings. 

Deliveries of Nio's first electric vehicle, the flagship ES8 SUV began in June 2018. The company followed that up with the more compact ES6 SUV, which was unveiled in Dec 2018. 

The ES6 shares the same EV architecture and underpinnings as NIO's larger ES8 SUV. However, the ES6 intended to be more of a mass-market EV much like the Tesla Model 3 sedan and Xpeng's upcoming P5. 

Both NIO and XPeng are also U.S. listed companies. In 2018, NIO made headlines when it became the first Chinese electric automaker to go public in the U.S. to take advantage of strong investor interest in EV stocks. 

NIO raised $1 billion in its U.S. IPO in Sept 2018. Shares of the company began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "NIO" on Sept 11, 2018. NIO market cap is now over $83 billion, making the EV startup almost as valuable as U.S. automaker General Motors. Its shares are down around 4% on Thursday to $50.95.

Xpeng launched its U.S. IPO in Aug 2020. The company's shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the stock symbol "XPEV." Xpeng's market cap is just under $35 billion. Despite the rising vehicle deliveries, Xpeng's share price is also down around 2.5% on Thursday afternoon to $43.45.

Eric Walz

Originally hailing from New Jersey, Eric is a automotive & technology reporter covering the high-tech industry here in Silicon Valley. He has over 15 years of automotive experience and a bachelors degree in computer science. These skills, combined with technical writing and news reporting, allows him to fully understand and identify new and innovative technologies in the auto industry and beyond. He has worked at Uber on self-driving cars and as a technical writer, helping people to understand and work with technology.