Electric car startups increase deliveries in October

Chinese electric car startups delivered a total of 6,459 units in October, up 6.8 percent from 6,046 units in September,  which bucked the declines in the performance of overall new-energy cars, according to auto insurance data from the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission.

In the first 10 months of this year, car insurance records of Chinese electric car startups reached 50,218 units, data from the commission showed.

In terms of models, Shanghai-based electric car startup NIO's sport-utility vehicle, the ES6, ranked first in October, with 2,201 units sold. Sales of the ES6 were up 32 percent from September. 

Shanghai-based WM Motor came next with 1,630 deliveries of its EX5 in October, an increase of 22 percent compared with September. Guangzhou-based Xpeng ranked third with 1,015 G3 2020 edition vehicles delivered.

Based on figures from the first ten months of this year, NIO ranked as the market leader, as the company delivered a total of 14,947 vehicles. WM Motor ranked second with 14,286 cars delivered. Xpeng delivered 11,944 units from January to October.

Industry analysts said the figure for new-energy vehicle startups is quite good in October as it is golden season for car sales, but pointed out that there are still challenges for these companies in the coming future as the overall performance for new-energy cars remained dismal.

China's overall new-energy vehicle sales fell 45.6 percent to 75,000 in October, while production declined 35.4 percent to 95,000, according to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

Market observers said that the green car market is under pressure due to conditions in the macro-environment, lack of consumer confidence and cuts in government subsidies for new-energy vehicles.