Leapmotor Leads Chinese NEV Startups in May 2025

Entering into June, it’s time to check out how Chinese NEV startups perform in the past month. The delivery data are released by the startups. Leapmotor achieved its third month champion, HIMA and Li Auto followed right behind it, both with deliveries exceeding, 40,000 units. Furthermore, Zeekr achieved the highest MoM growth of 37.74%.

Let's take a look at the specific figures.

Leapmotor  

Leapmotor secured its third consecutive month champion with 45,100 deliveries in May, surging by 148% YoY, among China’s EV startups. Its success comes from its strategy of democratizing premium tech. On May 15, Leapmotor launched its 2026 edition of C10 SUV with 800V architecture and lidar-enabled ADAS, It is the first model to do so in the sub-RMB 100,000 (USD 13,900) segment.  

Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance (HIMA)  

HIMA ranked second with 44,500 units delivered in May. Among all the HIMA brands, AITO is still the shining one, with several models dominated:  

- AITO M9: 15,500 units  

- AITO M8: 12,100 units  

- AITO M7: 4,139 units  

- AITO M5 Ultra: 4,889 units  

Luxeed (co-built with Chery) R7 sedans recorded 5,124 deliveries, while the Stelato (co-built with BAIC) S9 EREV sold 2,000+.  

Li Auto  

Third place was taken by Li Auto, which was used to be the top seller among NEV startups. Li Auto delivered 40,900 units, up +16.7% YoY, bringing its cumulative deliveries to 1.3015 million units. The sales boost of Li Auto in May, may due to its refreshed L-series models entering the market in May. Li Auto projects a monthly output of 50,000 in following months.  

XPeng  

XPeng sold 33,500 vehicles, surge 230% YoY, marking it the seventh consecutive month above 30,000 deliveries. Thus from January to May, XPeng achieved a total delivery of 162,600 units, making an significant 293% growth YoY.

NIO  

NIO reported a total of 23,200 units deliveries, up 13.1% YoY. Breaking down into all the brands, NIO brand sold 13,300 units, ONVO 6,281 units, and Firefly 3,680 (first full month).  

Xiaomi Auto  

Xiaomi achieved over 28,000 units of the SU7 sedans, maintaining a steady May deliveries. With the YU7 SUV to enter the market in Q3, Xiaomi May face a sales surge.  

ZEEKR  

ZEEKR sold 18,900 units, up 1.57% YoY, recording the highest MoM increase at 37.74%. The 007 GT performance variant exceeded 10,000 deliveries in its debut month.  

*(Exchange rate: RMB 7.2 = USD 1)*