Xiaomi said it will deliver more than 29,000 electric vehicles in March 2025, setting a new record. The company had previously delivered more than 20,000 electric vehicles per month over the past five months. On March 18, the automaker announced plans to deliver 350,000 vehicles this year. According to Bloomberg, Xiaomi is set to expand the capacity of its second electric vehicle plant in Beijing to meet strong demand.
Image source: Xiaomi
Its rival Xpeng delivered 33,205 EVs in March, up 268% year-on-year. It is the fifth month in a row that Xpeng has delivered more than 30,000 EVs per month. March is also the fifth month in a row that the company has delivered more than 15,000 units of its budget electric liftback Mona M03. Meanwhile, China’s Leapmotor, part of the Stellantis group, delivered 37,095 EVs in March, up 154% on last year’s March.
Beijing-based Li Auto delivered 36,674 electric vehicles in March, up 26.5% from a year earlier but fewer than it shipped each month in the second half of 2024. Market leader BYD delivered 371,419 passenger cars last month, up 57.9% year-on-year. Its sales outside China hit a record 72,723 vehicles in March. Also last month, BYD unveiled its Super e-Platform fast-charging technology, which can recharge 400 km of range in just five minutes.
Other Chinese automakers also reported higher deliveries, but some still struggled to break the 20,000-unit mark. In particular, Nio delivered 15,039 EVs, up 26.7 percent, while Geely-owned Zeekr delivered 15,422 vehicles, up 18.5 percent. As CNBC noted, major companies in China’s EV industry reported higher deliveries in March, indicating a recovery in demand after a seasonally weak first two months of the year.
In turn, the American automaker Tesla sold 78,828 electric vehicles in China in March, which means a drop of 11.5% year-on-year.
BYD retained its lead in the first quarter of 2025 with 986,098 vehicles sold. The automaker, which surpassed Tesla in revenue last year, likely surpassed the American company in sales of battery electric vehicles this quarter. Tesla sold 172,754 electric vehicles in China in the first quarter, according to the China Passenger Car Association.
Xpeng’s sales increased 331% year-on-year in the first quarter to 94,008 EVs. Leapmotor more than doubled its quarterly shipments to 87,552 EVs from 33,410 units a year earlier. Nio shipped 42,094 EVs in the quarter, up 40.1% year-on-year. Li Auto’s shipments grew much more modestly, up 15.5% to 92,864 EVs.