New Car Makers Face Cold Snap in February: "Zero Reason" Returns to 20,000 Units Monthly Sales "Starting Line" Xiaopeng Sales Halved

Cailian Press, March 1 — (Reporter Xu Hao) Under the dual influence of the Spring Festival holiday and a slowdown in consumption, the delivery performance of domestic new car manufacturers in February showed divergence. Leapmotor, Li Auto, and NIO all returned to a monthly delivery scale close to 20,000 units, while XPeng Motors experienced a significant year-over-year decline.

“February was affected by the longest-ever 9-day Spring Festival holiday, greatly reducing effective production and sales time in the automotive industry, making it a typical off-season for car consumption. Coupled with the reduction in purchase tax, the overall automotive industry was冷淡, full of challenges,” said a person in charge of a new car manufacturer.

Although Leapmotor still ranks first among new car startups, it has fallen back to around 20,000 units. Data disclosed earlier that day showed Leapmotor delivered 28,067 new cars in February, a year-over-year increase of 10.99%; from January to February, the total delivery was 60,126 units, up 19.16% YoY.

“The B platform has sold nearly 200,000 units cumulatively, ranking first in the 100,000-plus mainstream new energy vehicle sales; among them, Lafa5 surpassed 20,000 units in just three months after launch, B01 has continuously exceeded 10,000 units for months, and B10 has cumulatively surpassed 100,000 units,” said Zhu Jiangming, Chairman of Leapmotor.

Li Auto, ranked second, delivered 26,421 new cars in February, a slight increase of 0.6% YoY; from January to February, the total was 54,089 units, down 3.74% YoY, making it one of the only two new forces to see a YoY decline in the first two months of the year.

In Li Auto’s view, the success of its pure electric strategic transformation is closely related to the construction of supercharging stations. Along with the delivery data, Li Auto stated that during the Spring Festival, over 4,000 Li Auto supercharging stations nationwide provided more than 1.45 million charging services, with a total charging volume exceeding 42 million kWh. “Providing users with a stable and convenient charging experience and alleviating the nationwide electric vehicle charging pressure is the important significance of Li Auto’s self-built supercharging network.” In the extended-range field, Li Auto announced that the all-new Li One L9 and Li L9 Livis will be officially launched in the second quarter.

NIO’s overall deliveries in February reached 20,797 units, a YoY increase of 57.65%. Among them, NIO brand delivered 15,159 units, up 65.80% YoY. The ES8 remains a key model supporting NIO’s high growth. According to NIO data as of February 27, the company has delivered its 70,000th new ES8.

To sustain the growth momentum of the NIO brand, especially the ES8, NIO announced new promotional policies and financial purchase schemes on the same day as the February sales data release. These include a 10,000 yuan purchase tax subsidy for the new ES8, and a 7-year ultra-low interest car loan plan for models like ET5, ET5T, ES6, and EC6, with a down payment starting at 20%.

While the ES8 has driven the overall upward trend of the NIO brand, the Leado brand has experienced a sharp slowdown. Data shows that Leado’s February deliveries declined by over 26% YoY, contrasting sharply with NIO’s growth. Since January, NIO has been continuously strengthening its terminal marketing strategies for Leado. As of March 1, after launching a 7-year ultra-low interest financial plan, NIO further introduced a full purchase tax subsidy policy for Leado, with a maximum subsidy of 10,262 yuan. The Firefly brand also launched a limited-time purchase gift in March for its 7-year ultra-low interest car loan plan.

Previously, XPeng Motors, which had ranked last in monthly sales among new forces for two consecutive months, once again ranked at the bottom in February with a delivery of 15,256 units, a halving YoY. Amid a relatively weak domestic market, XPeng is accelerating its overseas expansion. In February, the all-new XPeng G6 was launched in the UK, and the new P7+ officially began large-scale overseas shipments.

On the first day after the Spring Festival holiday, XPeng Chairman He Xiaopeng issued a company-wide restart message, stating that by 2026, XPeng aims to become the world’s first company to mass-produce AI-driven products in the fields of robotics, flying cars, and Robotaxi. The new generation IRON robot will start mass production by the end of the year, aiming to become the “world’s first high-end humanoid robot with mass production scale,” while flying cars will achieve large-scale production and delivery within the year, and Robotaxi will begin pilot operations.

Industry insiders believe that in February, the automotive market was generally subdued under the dual pressures of long holidays and policy rollbacks. However, based on the performance of new car companies at the start of the year, the 2026 new energy market will shift from pure sales competition to comprehensive competition involving AI technology, ecosystems, and globalization.