BEIJING, December 1  (TMTPOST)— Aion, an electric vehicle (EV) brand owned by the state-owned manufacturer Guangzhou Automobile Group Co., Ltd. (GAC), maintained its leadership among emerging Chinese EV makers this year.

Source: Visual China

Aion said on Thursday that its sales of in November jumped 91% a year-over-year (YoY) to 28,765 vehicles, though dropping from 30,063 units in the previous month and snapping the record-setting period for six months in a row. As of November, Aion sold a total of 241, 149 units for the year with a 128% YoY increase. The results suggest that the company, founded in 2017, not just met its annual target of 240,000 units a month earlier, but also is well on the track to take the crown by sales in China’s homegrown emerging EV makers this year.

Most of Aion’s Chinese peers posted double-digit yearly growth in November. NIO Inc, announced to set monthly delivery new high with 14,178 units, representing YoY increase of 40.9% and month-over-month (MoM) increase of 40.9%. The record brought its total delivery to the date to 106,671 units, for the first time topping 100,000 units in a year.  Li Auto also broke its record with delivery of 15,034 vehicles, up 49.5% MoM and 11.5% YoY. Its delivery in the first eleven months of the year accordingly increased to 112,000 units.

Delivery of Aito, a brand jointly developed by Huawei and Chongqing Sokon's brand Seres, fell 31.3% MoM to 8,260 units, its first monthly decrease since it started shipment in March. Aito has shipped more than 10,000 units in a third straight month as of October. The slowdown in November was due to various factors including tightness of the supply chain and the Covid-19 outbreaks in Chongqing, a city Aito’s two facilities located in, according to the brand.

Xpeng Inc, the annual delivery champion among China’s emerging EV companies last year, remained sluggish after its YoY growth turned negative in September. Its delivery in November rose 14% MoM to 5,811 units, while dropped almost 63% from a year earlier, wider than the YoY decline of 49.7% in October. Xpeng just released financial results weaker-than-expected results both the top and bottom line in the third quarter on Wednesday. Its delivery guidance between 20,000 and 21,000 units, in the current quarter also missed the analysts’ estimates. In the earnings call that day, Xpeng management expressed confidence in recovery in the coming months, and expected the delivery in December to rebound sharply and back to more than 10,000 units.