China’s Xpeng delivered over 30,000 vehicles for sixth straight month

Chinese electric vehicle maker Xpeng delivered 35,045 vehicles in April, sustaining its record of delivering more than 30,000 vehicles for the sixth consecutive month.

That represents a 273% year-on-year increase in deliveries. The automaker on April 15 announced the launch of its renewed flagship model, the X9, starting from 359,800 yuan ($49,482).

Its competitor Leapmotor surpassed the 40,000-unit mark and delivered 41,039 vehicles in April, close to its 2024 record of 42,517 vehicles delivered in December 2024.

Nio delivered 19,269 vehicles for its main brand in April, more than the 10,219 delivered in March. One of its sub-brands, Onvo, delivered 4,400 vehicles in April, marking a decline from the 4,820 vehicles delivered the previous month.

The other sub-brand under Nio, Firefly, on April 19 officially launched its namesake model, a compact electric car that starts at 119,800 yuan. The carmaker also announced that deliveries started April 29. Based on CNBC’s calculations of publicly available figures, 231 Firefly cars were delivered in April.

Industry giant BYD sold 372,615 passenger vehicles in April, reflecting a 45.09% year-on-year increase. It had also reported 79,086 vehicles sold overseas in April, topping its record of 72,723 in March.

The EV juggernaut unveiled five new car models at the Shanghai Auto Show, an industry exhibition which ran from April 23 to May 2.

Not all automakers’ delivery volumes grew from the previous month.

Geely-owned Zeekr‘s April deliveries fell to 13,727 units, down from 15,422 the previous month. Deliveries also fell 14.7% year on year, based on CNBC’s calculations of publicly available numbers.

Li Auto delivered 33,939 vehicles in April, down from the 36,674 vehicles delivered the month prior, but still marking a year-on-year growth of 31.6%.

Xiaomi delivered over 28,000 vehicles in April, below its record of more than 29,000 the previous month. That comes after the crash of an SU7 vehicle in China on April 2 that left three dead

In light of the accident, safety concerns “took centerstage” at the Shanghai Auto Show this year, Nomura analysts said in a note dated April 28.

The note added that companies are “moving towards embracing more Lidars onto their models.” Lidar, short for light detection and ranging, can help construct maps of the environment, which can be used in driver-assistance systems in vehicles.