(Yicai Global) Nov. 2 -- China’s electric car sales were sluggish in October, normally a peak season for the auto industry. Only Aito, a marque co-founded by telecoms giant Huawei Technologies and automaker Seres, and car manufacturer Geely Holding Group’s Zeeker posted a significant uptick in sales from the month before, according to The Paper.

Hozon Auto, which owns the Nezha electric car brand, was the best seller in October, shifting 18,000 units, the same as in September, according to the sales data released by seven electric car startups so far.

Aito placed second with sales surging 20 percent from September to 12,000 units. The brand has sold more than 10,000 cars a month for the past three months. While Zeeker logged the fastest growth, with sales surging 22.3 percent to break past the 10,000-unit barrier for the first time to 10,119, ranking third.

Meanwhile, the big names Xpeng Motors Technology, Nio and Li Auto, all saw sales contract. Many Chinese NEV start-ups are under pressure after US electric car giant Tesla slashed the price of its China-made cars last month to qualify for NEV subsidies, a move which could trigger a price war, analysts said.

Xpeng, which was last year’s sales champion, fared the worst in October with sales diving 40 percent month on month, while Leapmotor, which listed in Hong Kong in September, saw shipments plummet 35 percent to less than 10,000 units.

Nio’s shipments dipped 7 percent to 10,100 units due to an outbreak of Covid-19 at its production base. The results were disappointing as the Shanghai-headquartered firm had been expecting record sales on the release of its latest smart sedan the ET5.

Li Auto’s October deliveries sank 9 percent to 10,100 units. The launch of the Beijing-based company’s new sports utility vehicle, the L8, next month should boost its performance.

China’s NEV sales more than doubled in the first three quarters year on year to 4.5 million autos, according to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. BYD, SAIC-GM-Wuling and Tesla were the top three, seizing over 45 percent market share.

Editor: Kim Taylor