To The Moon

US-listed Chinese electric vehicle company NIO, along with XPeng Motors and Li Auto, have all released their December delivery figures, and many readers are curious how they compare.

We hope this article gives you a quick look at that comparison. Note, however, that they target different markets and have different pricing, so these comparisons will only help you get a sense of the overall picture.

December deliveries

XPeng maintained its lead in both November and December after having the highest delivery volume of these three companies in October.

XPeng delivered 16,000 units in December, ahead of NIO's 10,489 units and Li Auto's 14,087 units.

Graphic by CnEVPost

Both XPeng and Li Auto had their single-month record-high deliveries in December, while NIO's deliveries were down about 400 units from November.

In terms of the year-on-year growth rate of December deliveries, XPeng was 180.7 percent, Li Auto was 130 percent and NIO was 49.7 percent.

NIO's deliveries were the lowest among these three companies and also had the lowest year-on-year growth rate. This still seems to be limited by capacity, with the company's executives previously saying that the number of batteries supplied by CATL is still the ceiling for deliveries.

It's also worth noting that XPeng began deliveries of the new sedan P5 and the G3 SUV's facelift G3i in 2021, and has introduced several derivatives to the P7 and G3i.

Li Auto also announced a facelift of its sole model, the Li ONE, in May and began deliveries in June.

NIO, on the other hand, has no new model deliveries for the entire year of 2021. It announced the ET7 sedan on January 9, 2021, which will begin deliveries in late March, and the ET5 sedan on December 18, which will begin deliveries in September.

Here is a breakdown of the different models of these three companies.

NIO:

ES6, 4,939.

ES8, 2,782.

EC6, 2,768.

XPeng:

P7, 7,459.

P5 5,030.

G3 series, 3,511.

Li Auto:

Li ONE, 14,087.

Fourth-quarter deliveries

XPeng had the highest number of deliveries in the fourth quarter at 41,751 units, ahead of NIO at 25,034 units and Li Auto at 35,221 units.

This is the second quarter in a row that XPeng has been the highest delivery volume among these three companies.

Graphic by CnEVPost

NIO's deliveries were the lowest of the three in both the third and fourth quarters, with its production line revamp in late September and early October resulting in October deliveries of only 3,667 units.

In comparison to previous guidances, XPeng and Li Auto both exceeded the upper end of their ranges in fourth-quarter deliveries, while NIO's deliveries were slightly below the upper end.

XPeng delivered 41,751 units in the fourth quarter, compared to previous guidance of 34,500-36,500 units.

Li Auto delivered 35,221 units in the fourth quarter, compared to previous guidance of 30,000-32,000 units.

NIO delivered 25,034 units in the fourth quarter, compared to previous guidance of 23,500 to 25,500 units.

Looking at full-year 2021 deliveries, NIO delivered 91,429 vehicles, up 109.1 percent from 43,728 in 2020.

XPeng delivered 98,155 vehicles in full-year 2021, up 263 percent from 27,041 vehicles in 2020.

Li Auto delivered 90,491 vehicles in 2021, up 177.4 percent from 32,624 vehicles in 2020.

Since inception, NIO has delivered a cumulative total of 167,070 vehicles, XPeng at over 130,000 and Li Auto at 124,088.

There is a catch

It is worth noting that NIO targets a very different market from XPeng and Li Auto, and there is also a big difference in the price of the products.

NIO targets the luxury car market and aims to take the market share of fuel cars from German luxury car companies, including BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi.

XPeng targets a broader market, hoping to attract a younger demographic with a more affordable price and sexy products.

Li Auto, on the other hand, targets families with children, becoming one of the top choices for young parents today.

In terms of pricing, NIO has the highest-priced models. Of its three SUVs currently on sale, the cheapest, the ES6, starts at RMB 358,000. Its highest priced SUV is the ES8, with a pre-subsidy starting price of RMB 468,000.

Depending on the battery pack capacity, consumers can currently receive a subsidy of either RMB 11,340 or RMB 12,600 for NIO models.

Li Auto has only one model and one price, at RMB 338,000, and there is no subsidy available to consumers.

XPeng's cheapest model is the G3i, with a price range of RMB 149,800 to RMB 187,800 after subsidies.

XPeng's most expensive model is currently the P7, with a price range of RMB 219,900 to 409,900 after subsidies.

In terms of average sales price, NIO is the highest of these three companies and XPeng is the lowest.

In the first 11 months of 2021, the average sales price of NIO vehicles was RMB 413,800, local consultancy Land Roads said in a report released last week.

In China, NIO vehicles rank fourth in average sales price, below Mercedes-Benz's RMB 481,900, but above Lexus' RMB 403,000 and well above the auto industry average transaction price of RMB 179,000, according to the report.

Li Auto's average sales price in the first 11 months of 2021 was RMB 333,600, compared to RMB 236,900 for XPeng, according to the report.