NIO, Li Auto, Xpeng See Sales Drop in April, Due to COVID-19 Lockdowns

Image: NIO

Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker NIO on Sunday announced delivery numbers for the month of April, along with rivals Li Auto and Xpeng.

NIO delivered a total of 5,074 EVs in April 2022, bringing the automaker’s year-to-date total for deliveries in 2022 up to 30,842 — a year-over-year increase of 13.5%. NIO delivered 25,768 cars during the first quarter of the year, up 29% from Q1 2021.

NIO’s April deliveries comprised 4,381 premium electric SUVs (1,251 ES8s, 1,878 ES6s, and 1,252 EC6s), along with 693 units of the ET7, the company’s flagship electric sedan.

The EV maker is currently facing supply chain turbulence, and the recent COVID-19 outbreak in China, NIO’s base of operations and production, didn’t help either.

“In late March and April 2022, the Company’s vehicle production and delivery have been impacted by the supply chain volatilities and other constraints caused by a new wave of the COVID-19 outbreaks in certain regions in China,” NIO said in its announcement. In comparison, the company sold 6,131 cars in February.

The Chinese EV maker added that production is recovering gradually, and it is working with its supply chain partners to bring output back up to full capacity.

The first batch of NIO’s tooling trial builds for the ET5, a mid-sized electric sedan that the company unveiled back in December of last year, rolled off the production line on April 29, 2022. The automaker expects to start deliveries of the ET5 later this year in September.

Other Chinese EV automakers, similarly saw a drop in sales due to COVID-19 lockdowns. Xpeng delivered 9,002 vehicles in April, down 42% versus March (15,414), but up 75% year-over-year. Li Auto delivered 4,167 units of its Li One hybrid SUV, down 62% versus March (11,034), while seeing a 25% decline year-over-year.