Cathie Wood-Backed Xpeng Beats Rivals Nio, Li Auto In March Deliveries, Records 148% Sequential Surge

Xpeng Inc XPEV on Friday reported higher monthly delivery numbers than those of the close local rivals Nio Inc NIO and Li Auto Inc LI as production bounced back quickly after an interruption due to a key facility upgrade.

What Happened: The Guangzhou, China-based Xpeng said it delivered 15,414 electric vehicles last month, a rise of 202% year-on-year and 148% over the previous month.

The EV maker's monthly delivery split was 9,183 P7 smart sports sedans, 4,398 P5 smart family sedans and 1,833 G3 and G3i smart SUVs.

The company had last month said it is carrying out a technology upgrade at its Zhaoqing plant that will help ramp up delivery of the significant order backlog carried over from 2021 and meet the growing demand as well.

Xpeng reported first-quarter deliveries of 34,561 electric vehicles, above the mid-point of its previous guidance of about 33,500 to 34,000 units.

The EV maker had last month said it is targeting a gross margin of 25% and above in the medium and the long term. The company had told analysts it expects its first-half vehicle gross margin to be similar to or slightly better than the fourth quarter and improve further as the $1,600-$3,200 price adjustments kick in and the company starts to deliver the higher-margin G9 SUV in the third quarter. 

See Also: Why This Analyst Is Bullish On Tesla, Nio Rival Xpeng

How Deliveries Stack Up: Rival Nio Inc NIO delivered 9,985 electric vehicles in March, while Li Auto said deliveries came at 11,034 units. 

Both Nio and Li Auto’s first-quarter deliveries of 25,768 units and 31,716 respectively, were above the midpoint of their prior guidance as well.

See Also: Nio Deliveries Jump 61% Sequentially In March: Here's What You Need To Know

Why It Matters: Investors are closely watching the delivery numbers for China’s homegrown electric vehicle startups as they continue to ramp up deliveries and expand in local as well as overseas markets. 

The ramp-up also comes at a time when China is seeing a spike in new Covid-19 cases and significant state-induced lockdowns to curb the spread.

Tesla Inc TSLA and Volkswagen Group VWAGY have had to halt production due to the new curbs.

Cathie Wood, best known for her bets in Tesla, has been piling up a stake in Xpeng this year and recently purchased some shares in Nio.

Price Action: Xpeng shares closed 2.9% lower at $27.6 a share on Thursday and were up 7.5% in premarket hours on Friday. The stock is down 45% so far this year.

Photo: Courtesy of Xpeng