Chinese EV stocks rally as June deliveries spike

Investing.com -- Shares of Chinese electric vehicle makers surged on Monday, amid increased optimism over the sector after the largest players in the country clocked a sizeable jump in vehicle deliveries through June

Sentiment towards the EV sector was also buoyed by Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA), which logged a record number of vehicle deliveries in the second quarter.

Hong Kong-listed shares of Li Auto Inc (HK:2015), Nio Inc (HK:9866), and XPeng Inc (HK:9868) surged between 7% and 14% by midday trade, pushing the broader Hang Seng index up nearly 2%.

XPeng (NYSE:XPEV) was the best performer among the lot, rising 13.6% after the firm logged a nearly 15% month-on-month jump in June deliveries, while Li Auto (NASDAQ:LI) clocked record deliveries in June.

Nio (NYSE:NIO) saw a roughly 75% jump in deliveries in June from the prior month.

BYD (HK:1211), which is backed by Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRKa), saw its sales nearly double in June. The firm’s Hong Kong shares jumped 3.4%.

The pick-up in Chinese deliveries comes after several months of laggard sales, and also reflects the increased competition in the market stemming from a price war earlier this year. Price cuts by Tesla had triggered similar moves by both EV and traditional vehicle makers in a bid to capture Chinese market share.

Tesla said on Sunday that it delivered about 466,000 vehicles in the second quarter, far more than Wall Street estimates for 448,350 deliveries. While the U.S. car maker does not release separate Chinese sales figures, data from the China Passenger Car Association has shown a consistent jump in mainland sales this year.

Chinese EV sales have been among the few bright spots in the Asian economy this year, having risen consistently over the past few months despite a slowdown in most other facets of the economy. Total vehicle sales have also slowed in the world’s largest automobile market.

But this invited a slew of government measures aimed at supporting the automobile sector, with Beijing recently unveiling a $72 billion tax break for EVs.