February deliveries from China’s new-energy vehicle (NEV) start-ups exposed a split market: a small group of manufacturers—Leapmotor, Li Auto and NIO—rebounded into the roughly 20,000-units-a-month band, while Xpeng’s volumes collapsed by about half. The lull was amplified by an unusually long nine-day Lunar New Year holiday and a retreat in fiscal incentives, leaving the industry confronting a classic seasonal trough compounded by policy headwinds.
Leapmotor reported the strongest month among the private EV challengers, delivering 28,067 vehicles in February, up about 11% year-on-year and bringing its January–February total to 60,126 units. The company highlighted strong performance from its B-platform line-up—several models have hit sustained sales milestones—pointing to consolidation around proven, mass-market products as a near-term growth engine.
Li Auto posted 26,421 deliveries in February, essentially flat year-on-year, but its two-month cumulative tally was down slightly. The company used the reporting moment to stress a different competitive asset: its proprietary charging network. Li said its more than 4,000 ultra-fast charging stations handled over 1.45 million charges during the holiday period, delivering more than 42 million kWh. Li is also preparing a new generation L9 and an L9 Livis variant for launch in the second quarter as it bets on range-extender hybridity to bridge electric limitations in certain segments.
NIO’s performance was the standout in percentage terms, with group deliveries up some 57.7% in February to 20,797 units, and NIO-branded cars up nearly 66%. The company marked a milestone for the ES8 SUV, having delivered its 70,000th unit of the model, and immediately leaned on promotional finance and tax-subsidy packages to sustain momentum. Not all of NIO’s divisions fared well: its Leda (乐道) marque saw deliveries drop by more than a quarter, prompting targeted price and financing incentives.
At the other end of the spectrum, Xpeng sank to the bottom of the new-entrant ranking with just 15,256 deliveries in February, a year-on-year fall of roughly 50%. The company is accelerating international roll-outs with new model launches in the U.K. and large-scale shipments abroad, and it is publicly committing to a sweeping pivot into robotics, flying cars and Robotaxi services—ambitious long-term bets intended to diversify beyond cyclical vehicle sales.
Taken together, the results underline two competing dynamics reshaping China’s NEV sector. Short-term volumes remain vulnerable to seasonal cycles, tax-policy shifts and promotional tactics, while longer-term competition is migrating from headline sales figures to infrastructure, software, financing and global expansion. Charging networks, software ecosystems and bold overseas pushes have become as important as vehicle specs in defining strategic winners.
For global observers, the month is a reminder that China’s EV challengers are maturing into varied business models. Some firms double down on low-cost, high-volume platforms; others are investing heavily in proprietary energy and software assets; a few are reaching for futuristic, high-capex bets. The winners over the next 12–24 months will likely be those who can stitch sales growth to sustainable margins, reliable after-sales services and defensible technology stacks rather than those who merely chase market share with discounts.