Leapmotor, NIO, and Xpeng Release May Delivery Data
N.R. Finch
All three EV start-ups posted strong May deliveries — Leapmotor up 81% year-on-year to a new record, NIO's three-brand strategy gaining traction — and the gap between them is widening fast.
Who won May?
Leapmotor delivered 81,569 units globally in May, up 81% year-on-year — a new single-month brand record.
This means → Leapmotor has crossed the 80,000-unit monthly threshold, no longer just a value-for-money follower.
Breaking it down: the A10 sold over 20,000 units in its launch month; the B01 and B10 have passed 200,000 cumulative global deliveries; flagship D19 added over 10,000 new orders in May alone.
How did NIO's three brands perform?
NIO delivered 37,705 vehicles in May, up 62.3% year-on-year and 28.4% month-on-month.
By brand: NIO brand 20,013, ONVO 12,029, Firefly 5,663.
In plain terms = the NIO brand is still the backbone, but ONVO and Firefly together now account for nearly half — the multi-brand strategy is starting to deliver volume.
What drove NIO's growth?
NIO cited two drivers: the newly launched ONVO L80 SUV drew a strong market response, and the flagship ES8 held the No. 1 spot in its segment for a fifth straight month.
This reflects a "high-low pairing" approach — the flagship defends brand premium while newer models push volume downmarket.
Year-to-date, NIO has delivered 150,526 vehicles, up 68.7% year-on-year; lifetime cumulative deliveries have reached 1,148,118 units.
Where does XPeng stand?
XPeng delivered 32,158 vehicles in May, up 4% month-on-month.
Compared to Leapmotor's and NIO's sharp year-on-year surges, XPeng's growth pace this month was visibly flatter.
XPeng also disclosed an environmental figure: it estimates its EV deliveries from January to May 2026 avoided over 2 million tonnes of lifecycle greenhouse-gas emissions versus comparable ICE vehicles.
What does the three-way comparison tell us?
Leapmotor 81,500 > NIO 37,700 > XPeng 32,200 — the single-month delivery gap has widened to more than two-to-one.
This means → the Chinese EV start-up pack is no longer neck-and-neck; a clear tier split has emerged.
Next to watch: Leapmotor's Lafa 5 debuts at the Hong Kong auto show in June and will roll into 28 countries and regions; the D99 opens for pre-sale in June — the expansion tempo is still accelerating.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.