Chinese electric-vehicle growth continued in December, with BYD taking the crown of largest global seller from Tesla for thesecond time.
NIO delivered 31,138 vehicles in December, up 73% year over year. For the year, NIO sold about 222,000 vehicles, up 39%.
Growth alone, however, wasn’t enough to give all Chinese EV stocks a boost on Thursday.
BYD, China’s largest EV maker, delivered 207,734 all-electric vehicles in December, up about 9% year over year.
For the fourth quarter, BYD delivered about 595,000 all-electric cars. That was more than Tesla, giving the quarterly global sales crown to the Chinese EV maker for the second time. Tesla delivered just under 496,000 EVs in the fourth quarter. That’s a record, but Wall Street was looking for about 507,000 vehicles.
For the year, BYD sold about 1.768 million all-electric cars, up about 12% year over year. Tesla sold 1.79 million, down about 1%.
BYD shares fell about 3.2% in overseas trading. Its U.S.-listed ADRs gained about 25% in 2024, but were off 2% on Thursday.
Tesla stock closed down 6.1% at $379.28 a share. Tesla shares still climbed 63% in 2024, despite essentially no sales growth, as investor attention has shifted to Tesla’s plans to launch a self-driving robo-taxi service in late 2025.
December was a good month for China’s other EV makers as well.
Chinese EV start-up XPeng delivered 36,695 vehicles last month, up 82% year over year. Deliveries for the fourth quarter came in at 91,500, better than the 89,000 midpoint of its fourth-quarter guidance that was given in the company’sthird-quarter earnings report. For the year, XPeng delivered about 190,000 vehicles, up 34% year over year.
XPeng’s U.S.-listed American depositary receipts dropped 2.3% to $11.55, while the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average fell about 0.2% and 0.4%, respectively.
XPeng stock dropped about 19% in 2024. Investors were focused more on lower car prices and increasing competition than growth in vehicle deliveries.
NIO delivered 31,138 vehicles in December, up 73% year over year. For the quarter, NIO delivered almost 73,000 cars, within the range of guidance given in itsthird-quarterearnings report. For the year, NIO sold about 222,000 vehicles, up 39% year over year.
NIO’s U.S.-listed shares were the day’s big winners: They rose 4.4% to $4.55 apiece on Thursday. NIO stock had a tougher year than XPeng; it dropped 52% in 2024.
Li Auto delivered 58,513 vehicles in December, up 16% from a year earlier. For the quarter, Li delivered almost 159,000 cars, just below the guidance range of 160,000 to 170,000 given in itsthird-quarter earningsreport. For the year, Li sold 500,508 vehicles, up 33% year over year.
Li’s U.S.-listed ADRs closed up 0.1% at $24.02. Li’s shares dropped 36% in 2024.
Combined, the three EV makers delivered 126,346 vehicles in December, marking the best month for the trio.
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