November sales are out for Chinese smart EV startups, and they are wild

It’s December 1, and that means Chinese smart EV startups announce their November delivery numbers.

And for me, waking up to yet another month of record delivery numbers.

Boy was it wild. Let’s just say, they were bananas.

Four of the Chinese smart EV startup “Big 6” have joined the “10K Club” in monthly deliveries, with Li Auto and NETA, surprisingly, the latest to do so.

Xpeng delivered over 15,000 vehicles, becoming the first Chinese smart EV startup to get over that hump and joining the “15K Club.” It also zoomed past NIO in YTD deliveries with more than 82,000 units. November represented the third consecutive month in which Xpeng deliveries topped 10,000 units.

Li Auto delivered nearly 13,500 vehicles, nearly twice what it delivered the previous month, a huge rebound. It’s incredible that it is doing this with just the ONE model.

NIO also rebounded big time from a rather “disastrous” October in which it had to shut production to prepare for production ramp of the upcoming ET7, getting back over the 10,000-unit hump for the second time ever. Though it no longer leads YTD deliveries, conceding that crown to Xpeng with just under 81,000 vehicles. But it still leads all-time deliveries with more than 156,000 vehicles, compared to just under 122,000 vehicles for Xpeng.

The biggest surprise came from NETA, or Hozon Auto, which was the first among the “Big 6” to announce November deliveries. It was the 9th consecutive month in which deliveries grew month-over-month. It’s found itself in a nice sweet spot with its compact SUVs.

LeapMotor and WM Motor both got over 5,000 again but WM Motor grabbed the headlines with its $152 million Series D2 financing round, putting cumulative financing to date for Series D to $457 million, with finally tally to top $500 million before the round is over, ahead of its expected domestic IPO. LeapMotor, on the other hand, reported 16,310 orders for its small T03 hatchback and the compact C11.

Together, the “Big 6” delivered 60,000 vehicles.

Other non-startups reporting November deliveries include GAC AION, which did nearly 15,000 for an all-time monthly high; Volkswagen’s ID. also topped 14,000 units, the third consecutive month in which the series delivered over 10,000 units; Geely’s premium performance brand ZEEKR got over the 2,000-unit hump in its first full month of deliveries, a 10X rise over just the 199 units delivered in October; SKYWELL delivered over 1,200 vehicles; while VOYAH, Dongfeng Motor’s premium brand, delivered 1,139 units of the FREE, putting cumulative deliveries since they started in August to just under 3,500 vehicles.

Combined, these brands plus the “Big 6” delivered nearly 100,000 vehicles.

The big guns Wuling, BYD and Tesla have yet to report.

The way it looks now, industry November NEV sales will blow past the 400,000 mark.