Chinese EV Maker Li Auto’s Sales Rank First among Domestic New Energy SUVs in 2020

The cumulative sales of Li Auto’s sole model, the Li ONE, from January to July 2020 reached 12,182 units, once again topping the list of China’s new energy medium and large SUVs, including hybrid, plug-in hybrid, pure electric, and extended-range electric, in the market, according to the latest retail data from Automative Data of China.

The data shows that the sales of the Li ONE in July of 2020 reached 2,516 units, an increase of 33% from June. Since its debut in December last year, the cumulative sales of Li ONE have amounted to 13,193, Li Auto said on its Weibo account on Aug. 10.

As of Aug. 10, Li Auto operates 25 retail centers across the country and covers 21 cities. Within this year, retail centers will further expand to Harbin, Changchun, Shenyang, and other cities, providing local consumers with a full range of product experience and test-drive services, the company said on Weibo.

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According to the latest data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), in July this year, the production and sales of new energy vehicles (NEVs) amounted to 100,000 and 98,000, respectively, down 2.4% and 5.5% month-on-month, and up 15.6% and 19.3% year-on-year.

Among them, the production and sales of pure electric vehicles amounted to 79,000 and 78,000, respectively, an increase of 17.9% and 24.2% year-on-year; the production and sales of plug-in hybrid vehicles totaled 21,000 and 19,000, an increase of 7.8% and 2.7%.

From January to July, the production and sales of NEVs were 496,000 and 486,000, a year-on-year decrease of 31.7% and 32.8%, and the rate of decline continued to narrow compared to the first six months of 2020, according to the data.

Compared with the same period of the previous year, the production and sales of pure electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles have both declined year-on-year, and the decline rate becomes narrower than that from January to June, the Paper reported.

Xu Haidong, the deputy chief engineer of CAAM, said NEVs are likely to keep relatively stable growth in the latter months of this year.

He added that the domestic NEV market is estimated to sell 1.1 million vehicles this year. Car sales throughout the year maintain a negative growth forecast of 10%.

Li Auto’s local rival, Tesla, is expected to sell 100,000 vehicles in China in 2020, Xu said.