(Yicai) April 2 -- After a sluggish start to the year, Chinese electric vehicle startups saw their sales rebound in March.

Leapmotor Technology, China’s best-selling new energy vehicle startup last year, sold 50,029 cars in March, up 78 percent from the previous month and 35 percent from a year earlier, ranking first nationwide, the Hangzhou-based firm announced yesterday.

Li Auto ranked second last month, with 41,053 vehicles sold, up 55 percent from the month before and 12 percent from a year earlier.

Nio’s sales surged 71 percent from February and 136 percent from a year earlier to 35,486 units in March. Xpeng Motors’ March deliveries climbed 80 percent to 27,415 units from the previous month but dropped 17 percent from the same period last year.

China’s NEV market cooled in the first two months of the year, as the country ended its purchase tax exemption policy for electric cars, with total EV sales down 7 percent to 1.7 million units from a year earlier, according to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. Despite that, most EV startups still reported overall growth in the first quarter, thanks to the strong rebound in March.

Leapmotor sold 110,155 units in the first quarter, up 26 percent from a year earlier. Li Auto delivered 95,142 units, up 2.5 percent. Nio’s deliveries nearly doubled to 83,465 units, while Xpeng’s sales dropped 33 percent to 62,682 units.

Auto sales in China for January and February are usually calculated together because the Chinese New Year holiday, a traditional off-season for car sales, falls in different months depending on the year.

The EV brands of traditional automakers also generally achieved positive performances last month. GAC Hyptec Aion, GAC Group’s recently reorganized EV business, formerly known as GAC Aion, sold 38,268 vehicles, up 231 percent from February and 12 percent from a year earlier.

Changan Automobile’s Deepal sold 31,742 EVs in March, up 88 percent from the month before and 30 percent from the same period last year.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Futura Costaglione