Chinese electric car start-up Li Auto delivers over 1,000 more cars than Xpeng in June

Finance news

Xpeng Motors launches the P5 sedan at an event in Guangzhou, China on April 14, 2021. The P5 is Xpeng’s third production model and features so-called Lidar technology.

Arjun Kharpal | CNBC

BEIJING — U.S.-listed electric car start-up Li Auto reported more deliveries than Xpeng in June, putting the latter in last place for the month among a closely followed trio of Chinese automakers.

Li Auto said Friday that last month, it delivered 7,713 units of its only model on the market, the Li One SUV. The Chinese start-up said the figure marked a new monthly high. Li One is more of a hybrid since it comes with a fuel tank to charge the battery and extend driving range.

Xpeng said its deliveries for June also set a monthly record, at 6,565 vehicles. The company said the majority of deliveries were for its P7 sedan, versus its G3 SUV.

On Thursday, Nio said deliveries for June reached 8,083 cars — also a monthly record. That brought the second-quarter total near the high end of Nio’s forecast.

Nio has ranked first among the three U.S.-listed Chinese electric car start-ups by monthly deliveries, while Xpeng has typically taken second place.

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Xpeng’s drop to third place in June comes as the New York Stock Exchange-listed company is set to launch a “dual primary listing” on July 7 in Hong Kong that could raise as much as $2 billion.

The company has two other vehicles slated to begin deliveries later this year, an updated version of the G3 called the G3i SUV and a new sedan, the P5.

Despite ranking third in June by monthly deliveries, Xpeng exceeded the high end of its second quarter guidance by nearly 1,400 vehicles.

But Li Auto beat its quarterly forecast by more than 2,000 vehicles.