(JW Insights) Mar 2 -- BYD once again ranked first as China's new energy vehicle market rebounded last month after sluggish sales in January, Yicai Global reported on March 2. Except Xpeng Motors, other leading Chinese EV makers reported an increase in deliveries. These brands include Li Auto, GAC Aion, Hozon Auto, Seres Group, Zeekr and Deepal.

Shenzhen-based BYD sold 193,655 NEVs in February, up 119 percent from a year earlier, according to a statement the Chinese carmaker released on March 1.

China's NEV sales fell 6.3 percent to 408,000 units in January from a year earlier, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) said last month.

But retail sales of passenger vehicles are expected to reach 1.35 million units in February, up 7.2 percent from a year earlier and 4.3 percent from January, as the Chinese New Year season is over and new local purchase subsidies and NEV price changes gradually take effect, the China Passenger Car Association said on February 22.

GAC Aion, the electric vehicle unit under GAC Group, sold 30,086 units last month, an increase of 253 percent from the same period in 2021.

Tesla has not yet announced its sales figure for February.

All Chinese EV startups except Xpeng Motors reported an increase in deliveries. Li Auto delivered 16,620 units last month, up 98 percent from a year earlier. Nio's shipments nearly doubled to 12,157 units, with the March figure likely remaining around 12,000. Hozon Auto delivered over 10,000 NEVs, a gain of 42 percent in the period. Xpeng's deliveries fell 3.3 percent to 6,010 units.

Seres Group saw its NEV sales more than double to 6,577 units in February from a year earlier. Sales of Aito, a marque the carmaker co-founded with Chinese telecoms giant Huawei Technologies, exceeded 3,500 units, a jump of 230 percent in the period. Seres recently signed a deal with Huawei Device to deepen cooperation, setting a goal to produce and sell one million NEVs by 2026.

Zeekr, the EV subsidiary of Chinese car giant Geely Holding Group, delivered 5,455 cars in February, an 87 percent increase over the same period last year. Changan Automobile's NEV brand Deepal sold 4,103 SL03s last month, a drop of 33 percent from January, Yicai Global reported.

(Yuan XY)