Industry-wide disruptions to supply chain, logistics and production in the China electric vehicle sector from a resurgence of the Covid-19 pandemic in the Yangtze Delta region has resulted in decreased April deliveries for some of that nation's top EV companies.
The Covid-19 resurgence led to lockdowns and plant shutdowns in certain regions in China beginning in March. Tesla (TSLA) rival Nio (NIO) on April 9 was forced to halt production in Hefei, China, for five days because of supply chain issues related to a Shanghai lockdown. Nio had earlier shut down manufacturing at its Heifei plant for five days on March 29 due to a semiconductor shortage.
NIO
Nio Production Gradually Recovering
Nio said in a May 1 statement that its "vehicle production and delivery have been impacted by the supply chain volatilities and other constraints caused by the new wave of Covid-19 outbreaks in certain regions of China."
The company said production has been recovering gradually and it will closely monitor the situation and its impact to the company’s business and financial conditions. It added that it will continue to work with its supply chain partners to accelerate the recovery of production to its full capacity.
Nio reported 5,074 EV deliveries in April, which amounted to a 28.5% decline from 7,102 deliveries in the same month in 2021. Deliveries included 1,878 of its model ES6; 1,252 of EC6; 1,251 of ES8 and 693 of ET7.
Nio's April deliveries were 49% lower than its March results of 9,985, 17% below February's 6,131 and 47% lower than January's 9,652.
China EV maker Li Auto delivered 4,167 of its Li ONE model in April, which was 24.7% lower than the 5,539 vehicles delivered in the same month in 2021. April deliveries were 62% lower than the March results of 11,034, 50% lower than 8,414 in February and 66% lower than 12,268 in January.
"Our Changzhou manufacturing base is located in the center of the Yangtze Delta region, which is home to over 80% of our parts suppliers, especially in Shanghai and Kunshan," Yanan Shen, co-founder and president of Li Auto, said in a statement. "The COVID-19 resurgence in this area has incapacitated some suppliers in Shanghai and Kunshan. Some of them completely shut down production or delivery of their products, making it impossible for us to maintain production after exhausting our parts inventory.
"This materially affected our production in April, resulting in delayed deliveries for some of our users. At present, we are working with our supply chain partners to restore production capacity, aiming to shorten the delivery waiting time for Li ONE users, while meeting all pandemic prevention and containment requirements,” Shen said.
XPeng Deliveries Increase In April
EV maker XPeng surprised the China EV market by significantly increasing deliveries in April by 75% to 9,002 vehicles compared to the same month in 2021. XPeng's April deliveries consisted of 3,714 P7 smart sports sedans, 3,564 P5 smart family sedans, as well as 1,724 G3i and G3 smart compact SUVs. Year-to-date total deliveries reached 43,563, representing a 136% increase year-over-year, as of April 30.
Telsa was forced to shut down its Shanghai Gigafactory on March 28 because of a Covid-19 lockdown and remained closed for over three weeks until it was allowed to reopen on April 19. Tesla had not yet released its April delivery numbers as of this writing.
