Electric Car Wars Heat Up: NIO, Xpeng Keep Tesla In Their Crosshairs

Tesla rivals NIO and Xpeng each announced strong deliveries for year-end 2020, sending their share prices soaring in premarket trading on Monday.

NIO (NIO) reported a 32.4% month-over-month increase and a 121% year-over-year increase in vehicle deliveries for 2020. The automaker delivered 43,728 EVs in 2020 and 7,007 for the month of December.

The breakdown on the deliveries included 2,009 of its ES8s, 2,493 of its ES6s, and 2,505 of its EC6s – all-electric SUVs.

“2020 has been a challenging year for the whole world,” William Bin Li, founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of NIO, said in a statement. “Against this backdrop, NIO has achieved consecutive record-highs along the way and closed the year on a high note with remarkable December deliveries of over 7,000 vehicles.

These results are attributable to the growing recognition of our premium brand, the competitive and compelling products, and services, the expanding sales network, and most importantly, the continuous support from our passionate and loyal user community.”

NIO wasn’t the only Chinese EV maker to do well last year as Xpeng (XPEV) also had record deliveries for the year, reporting a 51% increase in Q3 2020 deliveries over the previous quarter and a 112% increase in year-over-year vehicle deliveries. The electric car maker delivered 5,700 EVs for the month of December and 27,041 vehicles total for the year.

Breakdown in vehicle deliveries included 11,979 G3s electric SUVs and 15,062 P7s electric sedans.

Xpeng said it attributed its record vehicle deliveries to “increasing brand awareness, expanded sales, marketing, and supercharging service initiatives across China.”

The news of NIO and Xpengs aggressive vehicle deliveries in China comes on the heels of Tesla's (TSLA) weekend release of its 2020 vehicle deliveries breakdown.

The company’s CEO Elon Musk had promised that the automaker would deliver 500,000 vehicles by the end of the year, but the electric car maker came up just shy of the goal, reporting 499,550 vehicles delivered in 2020.

Shares of NIO were trading at $51.24 at premarket open on Monday, up $2.54 or 5.22%, while shares of Xpeng were trading at $45.80, up $3.52 or 8.22% at the same time. Shares of Tesla were trading at $720.00, up $14.33 or 2.03%, at the same time.