(Yicai) Feb. 2 -- Sales of most Chinese new energy vehicle makers dropped last month from the previous one, mainly because of the impact of year-end price cuts.

BYD, China’s best-selling NEV makers for a long time, sold 201,019 units in January, up 34 percent from a year earlier but down 41 percent from December, the Shenzhen-based firm announced yesterday. Of them, 105,304 were battery electric vehicles, and 95,715 were plug-in hybrid EVs.

Retail sales of passenger vehicles exceeded 1.7 million between Jan. 1 and Jan. 28, up 64 percent from a year earlier but down 15 percent from a month earlier, according to data from the China Passenger Car Association. However, the CPCA had previously estimated that the figure would have been around 2.2 million units, down 6.5 percent from the previous month.

Compared to the peak sales season at the end of last year, the automotive market has noticeably cooled off in January, as it approaches the Chinese New Year, the CPCA said. Moreover, with the subsidy policies for the new year not fully released, consumers are showing a heightened sense of caution, it added.

Seres Group, the carmaking partner of Chinese telecoms giant Huawei Technologies, delivered 32,973 Aito-branded cars last month, up 637 percent from a year earlier and 34 percent from the previous month, beating Li Auto to become China’s leading NEV startup for the first time in January, the Chongqing-based firm announced yesterday. Over 31,250 of them were the new Aito M7.

Li Auto’s deliveries totaled 31,165 units in January, up 106 percent from the same period last year but down 38 percent from December, according to data the Beijing-based startup released yesterday. Li Auto’s fourth model, Mega, will kick off deliveries in March. The firm expects to achieve annual sales of 800,000 units this year.

Zeekr Intelligent Technology Holding, the EV maker owned by Geely Holding Group, delivered 12,537 vehicles last month, the firm announced yesterday. The figure jumped 302 percent from a year earlier but fell 7 percent from the month before.

Leapmotor said yesterday it delivered 12,277 NEVs last month, up 978 percent from a year earlier and down 34 percent from December. Nio’s January deliveries rose 18 percent from a year ago but fell 44 percent from the month before to 10,055 vehicles, the Shanghai-based company announced yesterday.

Neta Auto, the electric car brand under Hozon New Energy Automobile, announced yesterday that it delivered 10,032 NEVs last month, up 67 percent from a year earlier and 95 percent from December.

Guangzhou-based Xpeng Motors delivered 8,250 vehicles in January, up 58 percent from the same period last year but down 59 percent from December. At the end of last month, the company introduced discounts of between CNY20,000 and CNY50,000 (USD2,785 to USD6,965) on the P7i model.

Editor: Futura Costaglione