Li Auto outpaces Chinese NEV stocks on strong registrations data

Investing.com-- Shares of Chinese New Energy Vehicle (NEV) maker Li Auto Inc (HK:2015) rose on Wednesday, outpacing those of its local peers after the carmaker the third-highest number of insurance registrations for new vehicles in China over the past week. 

Li Auto Inc (NASDAQ:LI) rose 4% in Hong Kong trade, rising past a 0.1% rise in the Hang Seng index. In comparison, its peers Xpeng (NYSE:XPEV) Inc (HK:9868) and NIO Inc (HK:9866) fell more than 1% each, while BYD (HK:1211) rose 1.1%. 

Li Auto had 9,300 insurance registrations for new vehicles in the week to March 10, Chinese website CNEVPost reported on Tuesday, citing data from Li Auto and other local EV makers.

The figure was a jump of about 3,100 registrations from the prior week, and saw Li Auto mark the third-biggest number of new NEV registrations in China, behind Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) and BYD. BYD had  49,100 registrations- the highest in the country, while Tesla had 13,200 registrations.

Insurance registrations are usually seen as an indicator of new vehicle sales by automobile makers.

Li Auto’s higher registrations come as the NEV maker rolled out several new models in the past two weeks, and on Tuesday also announced price cuts for some of its mid-range models. 

But the price cuts come as Chinese NEV makers grapple with a bitter price war amid a broad rush to capture the world’s largest electric vehicle market. Tesla had kicked off the price war about two years ago, but recently lost its spot as the world’s best-selling EV maker to BYD.