Chinese electric-car bellwether marque Nio narrows gap with Tesla, in sign domestic rivals are gaining ground on US giant
- New York-listed company delivered 3,226 of its ES6 SUVs in September, a year-on-year increase of 87 per cent
- Tesla sold 8,103 more units, but gap has narrowed over three-month period
New York-listed Nio, viewed as a bellwether of the Chinese electric-vehicle industry, narrowed the gap with US carmaker Tesla, mainland China’s highest selling electric-car marque, over the last three months.
The company, started by William Li Bin in 2014, delivered 3,226 of its ES6 sport-utility vehicles (SUVs) in September, a year-on-year increase of 87 per cent, according to the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA). In August, its sales rose 58 per cent, with the company selling 2,840 ES6s.
Tesla, on the other hand, led the sector by quite a distance last month, by a margin of 8,103, having delivered 11,329 of the Model 3 cars built at its Shanghai-based Gigafactory 3. In June, however, the gap between Tesla and Nio was wider, at 12,478, with 14,954 Model 3s sold and 2,476 ES6s delivered.
China’s automobiles market, the world’s largest, has shown strong signs of recovery in the second half of this year following the country’s successful containment of its coronavirus outbreak. New energy vehicle sales have also rebounded, hitting 125,000 units in September, a jump of 99.6 per cent from a year ago, CPCA data showed. A slew of Chinese electric carmakers have ridden this wave and are widely viewed as challenging Tesla. They have raised US$8 billion in fresh capital from stock markets or investment funds this year.
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Chinese electric vehicle start-up NIO goes up against Tesla
