BEIJING — Chinese language electrical automobile maker Xpeng forecast it’ll ship far fewer vehicles than rival start-up Nio within the first three months of the yr.

New York-listed Xpeng introduced in a single day it might probably ship round 12,500 autos within the first quarter. That means deliveries of 4,250 vehicles for March, based mostly on January’s 6,015 determine and drop to 2,223 in February.

Even contemplating the week-long Lunar New Yr vacation in mid-February, these figures fall wanting Nio’s.

Final week, Nio forecast deliveries of 20,000 to 25,000 autos within the first quarter, implying deliveries of at least 7,197 cars in March. The corporate solely delivers SUVs proper now, and sells them in a better worth vary than Xpeng’s vehicles.

Whereas Nio plans to ship a sedan to prospects early subsequent yr, Xpeng launched its P7 sedan final yr, which has accounted for a rising share of deliveries versus its G3 SUV. Xpeng plans to launch one other sedan later this yr.

Li Auto, one other Chinese language electrical automobile firm listed within the U.S., gave the lowest forecast of the three start-ups, at 10,500 to 11,500 deliveries for the primary quarter.

Regardless of the eye on start-ups like Nio and Xpeng, older automakers Tesla and BYD are already promoting electrical vehicles in China at a far better scale. In January alone, Tesla bought greater than 14,500 China-made Mannequin 3s and BYD greater than 7,200 of its Han mannequin, based on figures from the China Passenger Car Association launched Tuesday.

After surging in 2020, shares of U.S.-listed electrical automobile firms have fallen within the final two months amid the U.S. inventory market’s unstable begin to the yr.

• Shares of Xpeng fell practically 4% in a single day and are down greater than 35% for the yr thus far.
• Nio fell 7.6% in a single day and is down greater than 25% yr to this point.
• Li Auto shares fell 5% to start out the week and are down 26% for the yr thus far.
• Tesla shares fell greater than 5% in Monday’s session and are down 20% for the yr thus far.

As Nio, Tesla and different automobile firms race to develop self-driving know-how, Xpeng started rolling out its autonomous driving software to some premium P7 sedan prospects this yr. The know-how permits customers to automate duties similar to altering lanes and coming into and exiting highways.

About one-fifth of greater than 20,100 P7 sedans delivered as of February have activated the latest self-driving software, administration mentioned on an earnings name.

Xpeng reported complete income rose 43% from the third quarter to 2.85 billion yuan ($437 million) within the fourth quarter. The corporate expects income to fall barely to 2.6 billion yuan within the first quarter.

Web losses narrowed to 787.4 million yuan within the final three months of the yr from 1.15 billion yuan within the prior quarter.