(Yicai Global) Nov. 15 -- Leapmotor Technology’s shares dropped after the Chinese electric vehicle startup reported a third-quarter loss that was 86 percent wider than a year earlier.

Leapmotor [HKG: 9863] fell 1.9 percent to finish at HKD20.60 (USD2.63), rolling back some of a 6.7 percent drop earlier today. The Hangzhou-based company went public in Hong Kong on Sept. 29 at an offering price of HKD48 a share.

The net loss widened to CNY1.3 billion (USD189.5 million) in the three months ended Sept. 30, the Leapmotor’s first trading report since listing showed yesterday. Revenue soared nearly 400 percent to CNY4.3 billion, driven by higher sales.

The firm delivered 35,600 vehicles in the quarter, up 186 percent from a year ago, with the Leapmotor T03, priced at between CNY79,500 and CNY96,500 (USD11,240 and USD13,645), making up half of the total. But sales dropped 36 percent to 7,026 last month from September.

Revenue still fell short of the rapid growth in the cost of sales, research and development, and marketing. Though the quarterly gross profit margin improved to minus 8.9 percent from minus 26 percent in the first half of the year, it is far behind the roughly 20 percent at competitors Nio and Li Auto.

Leapmotor said it will launch new versions of existing models with extended ranges to ease buyers’ concerns, rather than adjust prices, as smaller battery capacity can also improve product cost performance. It also plans to modify existing models to cope with price cuts in the market.

“The C platform, including all coming models, will have both extended range and pure electric versions, with the first slightly cheaper,” the automaker said. “The pure electric version and extended range version may reach a 50:50 ratio in the future.”

The firm launched the C01 in May and the C11 in September to enter the mid- and high-end segments. They cost CNY180,000 to CNY270,000 (USD25,5054 to USD38,260) and CNY193,800 to CNY286,800, respectively.

Editor: Futura Costaglione