Written by Du Xiaoxun

Edited by Ziye

2024 is drawing to a close, but car companies are still striving to boost sales.

Recently, major automotive brands have released their sales figures for November. As the month closest to the announcement of annual sales, the November results have either led some companies to achieve their annual sales targets ahead of schedule or left others on edge.

In November this year, BYD sold 504,000 passenger vehicles, far ahead of other companies, and also achieved its annual sales target in advance.

Among the new forces in car manufacturing, ZEROne has become the first brand to reach its annual sales target; after completing the delivery of 100,000 vehicles ahead of schedule, Xiaomi raised its annual sales target to 120,000 vehicles. Other brands such as Li Auto, NIO, XPeng, Deep Blue, and Aion are still behind in achieving their annual KPIs.

December, which has arrived, has undoubtedly become the final sprint for brands.

To boost sales, brands are pulling out all the stops to attract the last batch of car buyers in 2024; at the same time, they are increasing investment in research and development to enter the costly and technically challenging "end-to-end" intelligent driving system market.

This year, there have been occasional instances of insufficient production capacity and delayed delivery of popular new car models. Car companies, having learned from past mistakes, dare not slack off at the end of the year, expanding production capacity and shortening delivery cycles as much as possible.

This year, national subsidy policies have significantly boosted car sales, and brands themselves cannot be "soft" on promotions. From November to December, many car companies have announced preferential policies such as price reductions, subsidies, and 0% down payment and 0% interest financing.

The year-end sprint is also driven by the upcoming pressure of 2025.

Next year is destined to be a year of fierce competition among car companies. Judging from the new car launches, many car companies have plans to introduce multiple types of models next year, setting new heights in performance and cost-effectiveness.

From the perspective of targets, many companies have given sales forecasts for 2025 in advance. According to 36Kr, the sales targets set by companies such as NIO, XPeng, ZEROne, and Xiaomi for next year are nearly double those of this year.

Guided by higher targets, the competition in the automotive sector will undoubtedly intensify next year, with each car company striving to improve while racing ahead.

1. Sales results are in: Who met their KPIs? Who still needs to sprint?

For car companies, November is one of the more important months of the year.

After the "golden September and silver October" in the automotive industry, car companies have only two months left to sprint toward their annual sales targets. Compared to the urgency of December, major automotive brands must achieve good delivery results in November to ensure a more secure achievement of their targets in December.

According to incomplete statistics, the sales ranking of new energy vehicle brands in November is: BYD, Li Auto, Aion, HarmonyOS Intelligent Driving, ZEROne, Deep Blue, XPeng, ZEEKR, NIO, Xiaomi, AVATR, ARCFOX, Voyah, IM Motors, and Jiyue.

Among them, BYD and ZEROne are the car companies that can declare "victory" in advance. At present, both have achieved their previously set annual targets.

According to data released by BYD, in November, BYD sold 504,000 passenger vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 67.2% and a month-on-month increase of 0.7% from October's sales of 500,500 vehicles.

BYD's November 2024 sales data, sourced from BYD's official WeChat public account

According to BYD's previously set 2024 sales target, it aimed to maintain growth of over 20% based on the 2023 sales volume of 3.02 million vehicles. Based on this calculation, BYD's annual sales target for 2024 is over 3.624 million vehicles.

So far, BYD's cumulative sales have reached 3.7409 million vehicles, achieving its target ahead of schedule.

On ZEROne's side, the brand's monthly delivery volume exceeded 40,000 vehicles for the first time in November, reaching 40,200 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 117%.

This year, ZEROne's sales target is 250,000 vehicles. In the first 11 months, ZEROne has delivered a cumulative total of 251,200 new vehicles, becoming the first new force to achieve its sales target for the year.

In addition to players who have achieved their targets in advance, some brands are not far from their annual targets.

Among them, Xiaomi increased its annual sales target twice in November.

On November 13, Xiaomi's official WeChat public account announced that the 10,000th Xiaomi SU7 had officially rolled off the production line, achieving the sales target of 10,000 vehicles ahead of schedule, and adjusting the year-end delivery target to 120,000 vehicles.

At Xiaomi Group's third-quarter earnings media conference call on November 18, Lu Weibing, Xiaomi Group partner and president, stated that Xiaomi Motors would fully sprint toward the new delivery target of 130,000 vehicles in 2024.

In November this year, Xiaomi's delivery volume continued to exceed 20,000 vehicles. Although Xiaomi has not provided specific data, from the bar chart, it can be seen that Xiaomi's sales volume in November still showed a year-on-year increase.

If Xiaomi Motors maintains its November sales volume and growth trend, it can achieve the new target of 130,000 vehicles.

Li Auto is also expected to achieve its sales target.

In November 2024, Li Auto delivered 48,700 new vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 18.8%. As of November 30, 2024, Li Auto had delivered a cumulative total of 442,000 vehicles in 2024.

It is understood that Li Auto's sales target for 2024 is 500,000 vehicles. Considering the year-end promotion policies, Li Auto should be able to smoothly achieve its target this year.

Li Auto's November 2024 delivery data, sourced from Li Auto's official WeChat public account

Looking at NIO and XPeng, it is not easy for them to achieve their annual targets.

XPeng's sales target for 2024 is 280,000 vehicles. As of the end of November, a cumulative total of 153,400 new vehicles had been delivered, leaving a gap of nearly 130,000 vehicles from the target.

In recent months, relying on the XPeng MONA M03, XPeng has consistently achieved monthly sales of over 10,000 vehicles and delivered 30,900 new vehicles in November, achieving a year-on-year increase of 54% and a month-on-month increase of 29%. However, achieving sales of 130,000 vehicles within one month remains challenging.

On NIO's side, the company's target is 230,000 vehicles. From January to November 2024, NIO delivered a total of 190,800 new vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 34.36%, leaving a gap of less than 40,000 vehicles from the target.

Although NIO delivered 20,600 new vehicles in November 2024, achieving a year-on-year increase of 28.92% and having delivered over 20,000 vehicles for seven consecutive months, if it wants to achieve its annual target, NIO's December sales must achieve a nearly doubling of month-on-month growth.

In addition, brands such as GAC Aion, Deep Blue under Changan Automobile, and AVATR also face challenges in completing their sprints in the final month.

This year, GAC Aion announced a sales target of 700,000 vehicles for 2024. However, currently, GAC Aion's cumulative sales from January to November are 366,100 vehicles, less than half of its target.

Deep Blue and AVATR have set sales targets of 280,000 and 90,000 vehicles for 2024, respectively. Currently, the former's cumulative sales from January to November have reached 207,300 vehicles, leaving a gap of less than 80,000 vehicles from the target; the latter has cumulatively reached 62,500 vehicles, leaving a gap of less than 30,000 vehicles from the target.

The November sales volumes of the two brands were 36,000 and 11,600 vehicles, respectively, with month-on-month growth rates exceeding 29% and 15%, respectively. However, to achieve their annual targets, they need to achieve even higher growth in December.

The prelude to December has begun, and new energy vehicle brands have entered their final sprint period.

2. Chasing speed, increasing capacity, everyone is "going all in"

Regardless of the percentage of their annual sales target progress, new energy vehicle companies must "go all in".

Among them, many car companies are rushing to launch new models in December, aiming to gain more attention at the end of the year.

According to incomplete statistics, the brands preparing to launch new models in December include AVATR, Galaxy Starship, Chery, Hongqi, NIO, Lynk & Co, and FAW-Volkswagen.

Among them, AVATR has launched the 2025 AVATR 11 on December 2. Positioned as a future intelligent luxury SUV, this new model comes in three configurations with a national recommended retail price range of 279,900 yuan to 429,900 yuan.

AVATR 11, sourced from AVATR's official WeChat public account

Compared to the older model, the new AVATR 11 adds an extended-range version and optimizes the power system of the pure electric version, such as adopting Huawei's latest-generation DriveONE silicon carbide electric drive, with a total power of 237kW for the single-motor version and 402kW for the dual-motor version.

In addition, Galaxy Starship, Chery, Hongqi, and NIO have confirmed the approximate launch dates for their new models.

Geely Galaxy will launch the Galaxy Starship 7 EM-i on December 6; Chery's and Hongqi's new models, the Chery iCAR V23 and Hongqi Tiangong 08, will be launched in mid-December; and NIO will launch the NIO ET9 on December 21.

To boost sales, next year will be a crucial period for car companies to launch new models.

For example, NIO's Ledao will launch two SUV models in 2025: one is a 6/7-seater SUV, and the other is a large 5-seater SUV.

Previously, Li Xiang, the founder of Li Auto, revealed that the Li Auto brand expects to launch a new pure electric SUV model in the first half of 2025 to serve more family users. Meanwhile, Ma Donghui, president and chief engineer of Li Auto, also stated: "Li Auto will launch multiple 800V high-voltage pure electric models in 2025."

On the HarmonyOS Intelligent Driving front, according to 36Kr, Huawei's HarmonyOS Intelligent Driving is expected to sell more than 10 models in 2025, including the AITO M5, M7, M8, M9; the Enjoy M9 with an extended-range version, available in extended and travel versions; the Intelligent M7, R7; and the Premium M800 and its second model.

In addition to accelerating the launch of new products, upgrading the intelligent driving system is also a powerful tool for car companies to increase sales growth at the end of the year.

Among them, Li Auto has not only made personnel adjustments to its intelligent driving department but also released the latest research and development results.

According to 36Kr, in November this year, the person in charge of Li Auto's "end-to-end" intelligent driving mass production officially emerged: Xia Zhongpu, at level 21, who reports directly to Lang Xianpeng, the head of intelligent driving. Previously, the intelligent driving algorithm research and development department of Li Auto was overall responsible to Jia Peng, who reported to Lang Xianpeng.

On November 28, Li Auto also pushed the latest result of the end-to-end + VLM dual-system architecture, "parking space to parking space," to all users of the intelligent driving Max version.

It is understood that Li Auto is the first car company in the industry to fully push this feature.

More and more car companies are targeting intelligent driving systems, with Li Auto being just one of them.

At the end of last year, AITO, a collaboration between Huawei and Thalys, launched the new M7, one of whose highlights was its advanced intelligent assisted driving technology. It became an instant hit upon its launch and was dubbed the "national SUV".

To this day, the AITO M7 series remains the sales champion of HarmonyOS Intelligent Driving. According to the delivery data for November released by HarmonyOS Intelligent Driving, the AITO new M7 series delivered 12,573 vehicles in November, with a cumulative delivery of 230,000 new vehicles in 13 months since its launch. The panoramic smart flagship SUV AITO M9 has achieved a cumulative order volume exceeding 180,000 vehicles in 11 months since its launch, continuing to rank first in monthly sales of vehicles priced above 500,000 yuan in the Chinese market.

AITO M9, sourced from AITO Automobile's official WeChat public account

In August this year, Huawei first equipped the Enjoy M9 with the ADS 3.0 system based on end-to-end technology, which can be activated directly in underground parking spaces, allowing autonomous entry and exit from barriers, navigation through roundabouts, and roadside start-stop functions.

More and more car companies are joining the layout of intelligent driving.

According to 36Kr, citing information from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, as of June 2024, China's computing power scale reached 246 EFLOPS (based on FP32 calculations). If converted to FP16, it is 492 EFLOPS. Among them, the combined cloud computing power of Huawei, NIO, XPeng, and Li Auto accounts for about 3.5% of the national computing power scale.

In addition, some automotive brands have launched intelligent driving solutions by collaborating with suppliers.

For example, in November this year, IM Motors, NVIDIA, and Momenta collaborated to launch the industry's first mass-produced intelligent driving solution using the DRIVE AGX Thor chip. It is reported that this solution will be first equipped in IM Motors' mass-produced models in 2025.

Also, in the first quarter of this year, Roadstar.ai became a supplier to Great Wall Motors based on its end-to-end assisted driving solution. In November this year, according to LatePost, Roadstar.ai completed a US$100 million Series C funding round, exclusively invested by Great Wall Motors, a leading domestic automaker.

In addition to the launch of new products and the enhancement of intelligent driving capabilities, brands must also have sufficient production capacity to handle sudden surges in orders for popular products.

Previously, after the XPeng MONA M03 experienced an explosion in orders, it faced delays in delivery. Some consumers reported that their orders, locked in at the end of September, had their original delivery date of the end of December extended to January 2025.

XPeng is also maximizing its production capacity to solve the problem. Judging from the delivery situation in November this year, XPeng achieved significant growth, with monthly deliveries exceeding 30,000 vehicles for the first time to reach 30,900 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 54%.

Regarding the delayed delivery of the XPeng MONA M03, company CEO He Xiaopeng stated that the factory would increase production capacity by 30% to 40% in November and December.

In fact, brands that have recently launched popular models are all pushing for capacity expansion.

For example, when NIO's Ledao L60 was launched, Li Bin, the founder of NIO, responded to the issue of production capacity, stating that it was expected to produce 5,000 units in October, reach a production capacity of 10,000 units in December, 16,000 units in January next year, and 20,000 units in March next year.

In June this year, NIO also announced the establishment of a third factory. According to an interface news report at that time, construction had begun on NIO's third factory, with a single-shift production capacity of 100,000 vehicles, which will be used for the subsequent production of NIO and Ledao brand products.

Furthermore, according to 36Kr, Xiaomi SU7 is expected to reach a monthly production volume of 24,000 vehicles in November and December this year. If calculated based on the rated annual production capacity of 150,000 vehicles as planned in the construction of Xiaomi Motors' phase I factory, achieving a monthly production volume of 24,000 vehicles would mean that its production line utilization rate is close to 200%.

For the final sprint, major car companies have made adequate preparations in terms of supply and research and development.",

But for the current automobile industry, performance pressure coexists with sales pressure. Behind the carnival of promotions, many new energy vehicle brands still haven't stopped losing money.

According to the performance disclosures of various companies in the third quarter of 2024, among the five emerging automakers, only Li Auto has achieved profitability, with earnings of 2.82 billion yuan.

Among the other companies, Leapmotor had the smallest loss at 690 million yuan, while NIO had the largest loss at 5.01 billion yuan. Xpeng and Xiaomi each lost 1.81 billion yuan and 1.5 billion yuan, respectively, while Leapmotor lost 1.5 billion yuan.

In addition, Geely's Zeekr achieved revenue of 18.358 billion yuan in the third quarter of this year, a decrease of 8.4% from the previous quarter, with a net loss of 1.1391 billion yuan.

According to the semi-annual report of this year, Deep Blue Automobile achieved revenue of 13.981 billion yuan and a net loss of 739 million yuan; AVATR achieved revenue of 6.152 billion yuan and a net loss of 1.395 billion yuan.

2025 is a crucial year for many automakers to achieve profitability.

For example, Leapmotor originally expected to achieve profitability in the second half of 2025, but Zhu Jiangming, the chairman of Leapmotor, previously stated that this timeline would be advanced. During Xpeng's third-quarter earnings call in 2024, He Xiaopeng said the company expected to achieve profitability in the fourth quarter of 2025.

Although Xiaomi Automobile has not announced a specific year for profitability, based on currently published financial reports, Xiaomi narrowed its loss per vehicle from over 60,000 yuan in the second quarter to 37,000 yuan in the third quarter.

For automakers with a multi-brand layout, 2025 is also a crucial year for major sub-brands to continuously launch new products and increase sales.

For example, NIO will accelerate its battery swapping station layout plan in 2025; its third brand, "Firefly," will also begin deliveries in the first half of 2025, targeting monthly sales of around 5,000 vehicles.

Li Bin also stated that NIO aims to double its sales in 2025 and achieve profitability in 2026.

Among the automakers seeking sales growth, Geely Auto's performance in 2025 is also noteworthy.

Based on data from the second half of this year, Geely Auto's sales have gradually recovered. In July, its orders exceeded 3,000 vehicles, with 1,019 deliveries; in the following months of August, September, and October, deliveries increased month-on-month, and monthly sales have now stabilized at around 3,000 units.

Geely Auto focuses on intelligence. It is reported to be the first in the industry to realize "pure vision + end-to-end" intelligent driving. According to October data, 94.7% of car owners currently use Geely Auto's ASD function, and over 40% of users choose to buy out the ASD high-level intelligent driving solution at one time.

Undoubtedly, Geely Auto must find an opportunity to exceed 10,000 monthly sales in 2025 to keep up with other brands.

As the end of the year approaches, automakers have also set their sales targets for 2025. According to 36Kr, NIO's estimated delivery volume this year is 230,000 vehicles, and its sales target for 2025 is to double that, with the sales forecast for the Letao brand being around 240,000 vehicles.

Xpeng's initial sales forecast for next year is 350,000 vehicles, nearly doubling the expected growth compared to this year; Leapmotor's target is 500,000 vehicles, which, if achieved, will mark two consecutive years of 100% year-on-year growth.

Li Auto's sales forecast is around 700,000 vehicles, which, if achieved, will represent a year-on-year increase of around 40%. Xiaomi has given a sales forecast of 360,000 vehicles, which is relatively optimistic compared to this year's delivery target of 130,000 vehicles.

Overall, each company has a plan for how to "fight" in 2025. However, given the intense competition in the automotive industry next year, winning this marathon will not be easy. Each "participant" must adjust their pace based on their own "energy" and maintain optimal condition.