By Jiahui Huang


Shares of Chinese electric-vehicle makers surged after some reported record sales in May, spurring hopes that more price cuts are around the corner as companies race to grow market share.

BYD, which trumped Tesla late last year to become the world's largest EV maker, saw its Hong Kong-listed shares gained 5.0% on Monday. The company also maintained its top position in China, selling more than 300,000 units for a third straight month in May.

Shanghai-based shares of NIO and Geely Automobile rose 4.0% and 3.5%, respectively, after both companies set sales records in May. NIO's total deliveries rose more than three-fold to 20,544 units last month, while Geely-backed Zeekr--which recently listed in the U.S.--sold 18,616 units, more than doubling its tally from a year earlier.

Hybrid-vehicle specialist Li Auto didn't manage the same pace of growth as it continues to face challenges from competitors and a slow recovery from the weaker-than-expected launch of its fully electric vehicle. But deliveries still rose 24% on the year to 35,020 units, and Li Auto shares ended 5.3% higher in Hong Kong. Its rival, Huawei-backed Seres, reported an almost four-fold jump in sales in May to 34,130 units, pushing Shanghai-listed shares up 1.75%.

EV newcomer Xiaomi, best known for making smartphones, delivered 8,646 shipments in the second month of after debuting its SU7 model. Shares gained 2.4%.

Separately on Monday, new details emerged about a program to encourage car owners to swap their old vehicles for new ones.

China's Ministry of Finance said the central government and local governments will spend $1.53 billion on subsidies this year, allowing citizens to trade their old cars for new ones. Consumers who replace their cars with electric or hybrid vehicles can, in some cases, receive government subsidies of up to 10,000 yuan ($1,388) through 2024.

Chinese authorities said in the statement that they hope consumers will replace 3.78 million cars this year under the program, which was announced in late April.

Analysts remain cautious about the trade-in program's ability to boost car sales, however.

The May EV sales numbers were in line with most analysts' expectations, many of whom had expected to see a sequential improvement in the month thanks to the Beijing Auto Show in April, which tends to boost sales as new models are released.

Nomura analyst Joel Ying expects automakers to build up inventory in June to be ready to deliver better shipment numbers for the first half of the year.

As a result, he sees the risk of another round of price cuts by carmakers as on the rise.

Automakers led by Tesla, BYD and Li Auto have been issuing rounds of prices cut since the start of this year, jostling for space in an increasingly overcrowded Chinese market.

Bocom International auto analyst Angus Chan said price tags on internal-combustion-engine cars could be slashed in the second half of this year, as they lose market share to EVs.


Write to Jiahui Huang at jiahui.huang@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

06-03-24 0437ET