In August, the new energy vehicle market maintained its robust growth trajectory, with emerging automakers delivering impressive performance results. Leap Motor, XPeng Inc., and NIO Inc. achieved record-breaking delivery numbers, with Leap Motor securing the top position with 57,100 vehicle deliveries. NIO Inc. reversed its sales stagnation through strong sales of the Onvo L90. However, Li Auto experienced declining monthly deliveries, marking three consecutive months of sequential drops. Industry experts note that while the overall new energy vehicle sector continues to expand, the competitive landscape remains unstable. Currently, new EV manufacturers face significant product homogenization with minimal differentiation between offerings. To boost sales, companies must focus on differentiation strategies. With electric and smart technologies reaching comparable levels across the industry, safety, reliability, and durability have become the key differentiators for companies seeking competitive advantage.
**Multiple Companies Achieve Record Highs**
Competition among new-force automakers remains intense. In August, Leap Motor maintained its leadership position, delivering 57,100 new vehicles, representing an 88% year-over-year increase. This marked the second consecutive month with deliveries exceeding 50,000 units, solidifying its position as the new-force sales champion. For the first eight months of the year, Leap Motor's cumulative deliveries reached 328,900 vehicles, up 136.4% year-over-year.
Huawei's Smart Mobility delivered 44,600 vehicles across all series in August, with cumulative deliveries surpassing 900,000 units. The Aito brand contributed 90% of sales with 40,000 monthly deliveries. While maintaining second place, this represented a 1.8% sequential decline.
XPeng Inc. followed closely, delivering 37,700 new vehicles in August, marking a 168.7% year-over-year increase and 2.7% sequential growth, achieving another monthly delivery record. The XPeng MONA M03 contributed over 15,000 deliveries, maintaining over 10,000 monthly deliveries for 12 consecutive months.
NIO Inc. surpassed Li Auto with August deliveries of 31,300 new vehicles, representing a 55.2% year-over-year increase and setting a new historical high. Xiaomi Auto delivered over 30,000 vehicles again, marking the second time since launch that monthly sales exceeded 30,000 units.
However, Li Auto, last year's new-force annual sales champion, delivered 28,500 new vehicles in August, falling below the 30,000-unit threshold and experiencing three consecutive months of sequential declines. Previously, Li Auto CEO Li Xiang stated on social media that this year marks the company's formal entry into the pure electric SUV segment, aiming to "secure fifth place and compete for third" in the high-end pure electric market by year-end. The Li L8 targets stable monthly sales of 6,000 units, while the Li L6 aims for 9,000-10,000 monthly sales. Including the Li MEGA, the company's pure electric vehicle portfolio targets stable monthly sales of 18,000-20,000 units.
Traditional automaker-incubated brands also maintained steady growth. Deepal delivered 28,200 vehicles globally in August, up 40% year-over-year. Zeekr Technologies achieved 44,800 unit sales, representing 11% year-over-year and 2% sequential growth, marking six consecutive months above 40,000 units. Within this, Zeekr brand sales reached 17,600 units while Lynk & Co contributed 27,000 units. Voyah delivered 13,500 vehicles, up 119% year-over-year, maintaining over 10,000 deliveries for six consecutive months. Avatr achieved 10,600 sales, up 185% year-over-year. Additionally, GAC Aion delivered 27,000 vehicles in August, down 23.5% year-over-year.
**New Products Drive Sales**
August sales performance highlighted value proposition and technological capability as key drivers of new-force automaker growth. Leap Motor, reclaiming its new-force leadership position, lacks a single blockbuster model but covers the high-value 60,000-200,000 yuan market segment. The Leap B01, starting at 89,800 yuan, generated over 20,000 firm orders within one month of launch. XPeng Inc. continued investing in smart technology, with XNGP intelligent driving assistance system achieving over 60% user activation rate, making smart technology a sales growth catalyst.
The new vehicle effect proved significant in August. Models like the Leap B01, new XPeng P7, Zeekr 9X, and Onvo L90 gained immediate market attention upon launch. XPeng Inc., showing strong growth this month, launched the new P7 on August 27, generating over 10,000 firm orders within seven minutes. Huawei Smart Mobility's first wagon, the Luxeed S9T, achieved 10,000 pre-orders within one hour of opening pre-sales and reached 20,000 within 24 hours. NIO Inc.'s Onvo L90 delivered over 10,000 units in its launch month, becoming a key factor in the company's turnaround.
Production capacity also significantly impacts delivery volumes. While some brands have sufficient orders, production ramp-up speed limits further sales growth. Consequently, several automakers are increasing capacity investments to meet market demand. In late August, NIO Inc. founder and CEO William Li stated that the new ES8 has strong pre-order performance, noting, "When planning the new-generation ES8, we were conservative in estimating market enthusiasm. Now the entire supply chain is working at full capacity to increase production."
Similarly, despite strong sales momentum, Xiaomi Auto faces production capacity constraints. Currently, some Xiaomi SU7 and YU7 variants have extended delivery periods, with YU7 standard version showing 53-56 week delivery times. Xiaomi Auto has repeatedly mentioned efforts to boost production capacity. Public data shows Xiaomi Auto's Beijing Yizhuang Phase II factory began production in July with planned annual capacity of 150,000 units. Once operational, the Beijing base will reach total annual capacity of 350,000 units.
**Differentiation Strategy for Market Breakthrough**
China's new energy vehicle market experiences rapid growth alongside continuously evolving competitive dynamics. Data from the China Passenger Car Association shows August narrow passenger vehicle retail sales reached approximately 1.94 million units, up 6.2% month-over-month and 2% year-over-year. Narrow new energy passenger vehicle retail sales are expected to reach 1.1 million units with 56.7% market penetration.
Economist and MIIT Information and Communication Economics Expert Committee member Pan Helin identifies two characteristics in August automotive sales: First, total industry volume continues climbing through fuel vehicle replacement and demand growth stimulated by trade-in policies. Second, market structure remains unstable, with some automakers potentially affected by social media events, reflecting that some companies haven't established stable brand positioning in consumer minds.
Regarding industry conditions reflected in sales figures, international registered innovation management expert and Lockin Island Technology founder and CEO Lu Kelin believes new energy vehicle consumer demand has shifted from "early adoption" to "value calculation," requiring both value proposition and technological capability to attract consumers. Additionally, new vehicle effect windows have compressed to 3-6 months, with some models generating immediate social media buzz and rapidly converting traffic to orders.
Current new-force automakers face challenges including insufficient production capacity flexibility and cash flow constraints. "To break through, companies need 'asset-light + flexible' production strategies and 'combination punch' product portfolios to avoid single-model dependency. Additionally, user-facing strategies should employ 'direct + authorized' hybrid channel expansion to reduce customer acquisition costs," Lu Kelin stated.
Pan Helin notes current new-force automaker homogenization issues with minimal product differentiation. "Sales growth requires differentiation focused on vehicle stability and safety. With comparable electrification and intelligence levels, automakers struggle to differentiate. Only safety, stability, and durability can be the next breakthrough points for companies seeking competitive advantage."