Tesla's Chinese Rivals Li, Xpeng, Nio Surge While Rivian Declines In Pre-Market As Trump Revokes Biden's EV Target

U.S.-listed shares of Chinese EV startups Li Auto Inc. LI, Nio Inc. NIO, and Xpeng Inc. XPEV rose as high as 7.3% in premarket trading on Tuesday after President Donald Trump‘s inauguration even as shares of California-based EV startup Rivian Automotive Inc. RIVN fell.

What Happened: Trump on Monday revoked a 2021 executive order signed by former President Joe Biden that sought to ensure that 50% of new vehicles sold in the U.S. by 2030 are electric. The new President also said that his administration would consider ending the $7500 federal tax credit available on select EV purchases, posing a threat to the EV industry and dragging Rivian shares 1.1% lower in pre-market trading on Tuesday.

Chinese EV manufacturers, however, rose in pre-market trading as Trump did not target China in his inauguration speech or impose tariffs on Beijing. Trump, instead said that he could impose 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico on Feb. 1.

To add to the Chinese EV startups’ rally, Nio saw 2800 brand vehicle registrations in China for the week of January 13-19, up 86.7% as compared to the previous week.

Li Auto had 9500 insurance registrations in the period, up 25% from the week before,

Xpeng also saw 9400 insurance registrations in the week, marking a jump of 27% from the week before.

Meanwhile, Tesla: Tesla TSLA stock rose 1.85% in pre-market trading on Tuesday, despite Trump’s announcements about EVs, likely owing to investor expectations of Tesla CEO Elon Musk‘s close affinity to Trump aiding the company and enabling a favorable regulatory environment for its vision of deploying autonomous vehicles on public roads this year.

Musk has also previously dismissed the impact of a drop in EV tax credit for Tesla saying that the impact of the elimination of subsidies would only be slight for Tesla but devastating for its competitors. The elimination of EV subsidies would probably help Tesla in the long term, he added.

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