Chinese electric-vehicle makers' sales were higher in July, with sales at Tesla rival BYD growing more than 20%, while most others posted moderate gains.

BYD was the top seller, with 419,211 units sold last month, up 22% from the same period a year ago, it said Sunday. The automaker's exports more than doubled last month to 180,538 new-energy vehicles, a category that includes EVs and hybrids.

NIO also posted a strong performance, with its July vehicle deliveries surging 71% to 35,934.

Geely Automobile's sales for the month rose 5.0% to 250,161 vehicles. XPeng delivered 38,027 vehicles in July, up 4.0% on year. Great Wall Motor's July new-energy vehicle sales totaled 34,651, inching up from 34,593 a year earlier.

Li Auto was among outliers posting softer July sales. It booked 30,468 vehicle sales during the month, down 0.9% on year.

BYD's shares in Shenzhen dropped 0.4% on Monday, while those in Hong Kong rose 1.0%. Geely Automobile's shares fell 0.9% and Li Auto's declined 1.3%. XPeng's Hong Kong stock dropped 2.65%, while NIO's slipped 1.4%. Great Wall Motor's shares skidded 0.55%.

Citi analysts estimate that wholesale volume in China's new-energy vehicle sector rose 1% on month, beating market expectations.

While Chinese automakers' earnings still generally lag sales volumes, the upcoming second-quarter earnings season presents meaningful upside potential for these companies' shares to rise, they said.

Exports as a percentage of passenger-vehicle wholesales have risen since March, enhancing second-half earnings visibility of export-heavy automakers such as BYD, Geely and Great Wall, they added.