(Yicai) Nov. 2 -- China’s new energy vehicle market is becoming ever more polarized, with Leapmotor maintaining its delivery lead over other NEV startups for a fourth straight month in October, while deliveries by NEV brands that Huawei Technologies co-developed with partners halved from a year earlier.

Leapmotor’s deliveries jumped 51 percent to 106,127 vehicles in October from a year earlier, setting a new monthly record but slowing from a 59 percent increase in September.

In the first 10 months, Leapmotor handed over to buyers about 772,600 cars. To meet its full-year target of one million vehicles, announced at the start of the year, the Hangzhou-based company would need to deliver an average of more than 113,700 a month in November and December, which is about 7 percent higher than October’s record-breaking performance.

Xpeng Group and Xiaomi both delivered more than 50,000 vehicles last month for the first time. While Xiaomi did not disclose the exact figure, Xpeng said it handed over a record 50,237 cars in October, up 22 percent from September and 20 percent from a year earlier.

Among the NEV marques backed by major state-owned automotive groups, deliveries of Hyptec-branded vehicles, a marque owned by GAC Aion, a unit of GAC Group, stood at 42,357 in October. That was a 57 percent surge from a year ago and a 19 percent jump from September, lifting it to fourth place in the ranking.

Deliveries of Zeekr, Geely Automobile Holdings’ NEV brand, jumped 52 percent to 32,483 vehicles from a year earlier, bringing the total for the first 10 months of the year to 320,887, achieving its 300,000 annual target two months in advance. Zeekr is the first Chinese NEV brand to reach its full-year goal ahead of schedule this year.

Harmony Intelligence Mobility Alliance, Huawei’s smart car partnership, saw deliveries by its five collaboration brands fall for the fourth consecutive month, down 51 percent from a year ago to 33,537. Aito, which HIMA co-develops with Seres Group, handed over 22,105 units, the most among the five brands, down nearly 55 percent.

Avatr Technology, the high-end smart electric vehicle marque of Changan Automobile, delivered only 7,056 vehicles, down about 14 percent on a monthly basis and around 48 percent on an annual basis, making it one of the few with both monthly and yearly declines.

China’s passenger car sales fell 29 percent to 1.6 million units in October from a year earlier, down 1.1 percent on the prior month, according to the China Passenger Car Association. Retail sales of NEVs fell 17 percent to about 1.07 million, with a market adoption rate of nearly 67 percent.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Futura Costaglione