(Yicai) July 2 -- Leapmotor Technology was once more the best-selling Chinese new energy vehicle startup in June, far ahead of its competitors, after monthly sales exceeded the 90,000-unit threshold for the first time.

Leapmotor sold 93,376 NEVs last month, up 95 percent from a year earlier and 14 percent from May, bringing the total in the first half to 356,487 units, a new record among Chinese NEV startups in the period, the Hangzhou-based carmaker said yesterday.

Nio and Xpeng Group, which ranked second and third, respectively, both reported sales of over 40,000 units in June, while the following six -- Zeekr, GAC Hyptec Aion, Deepal, Li Auto, Aito, and Xiaomi Auto -- all sold between 30,000 and 40,000 units.

Nio’s deliveries reached 40,597 NEVs last month, up 63 percent from a year earlier and 7.7 percent from a month earlier, as the launch of multiple new models fueled sales growth and solidified the Nio brand’s standing in the premium segment, the automaker noted.

Xpeng sold 40,126 autos in June, up 16 percent from the same period last year and 25 percent from May. Deliveries of its new Xpeng GX model kicked off last month, with 6,739 units delivered since then. The 10,000th GX rolled off the production line yesterday.

The five auto brands in Huawei Technologies’ smart car alliance, Harmony Intelligence Mobility Alliance, delivered 50,624 NEVs in June. The Aito brand, co-developed with Seres Group, contributed 30,199 deliveries in the period, down 12 percent from May and accounting for 60 percent of the total.

Shangjie, the NEV brand jointly developed by HIMA and SAIC Motor, sold more than 10,000 cars in June. The remaining three HIMA brands -- Maextro with JAC Motors, Luxeed with Chery Automobile, and Stelato with BAIC Group -- sold only about 10,000 units in total.

NEV brands of traditional automakers continued to deliver relatively low volumes in June. Dongfeng Motor’s Voyah sold 14,223 vehicles last month, up 41 percent from a year earlier and recording just a slight increase from May. SAIC’s IM Motors and Changan Automobile’s Avatr have yet to release their June statistics. They sold 10,023 units and 7,336 units, respectively, in May.

China’s retail sales of NEVs fell 10 percent to about 583,000 units between June 1 and 21 from a year earlier, but they rose 11 percent from the same period the month before, according to the latest data from the China Passenger Car Association.

Only seven of the 30 Chinese pure electric vehicle manufacturers are expected to break even or achieve profitability by 2030, according to a report by global consulting firm AlixPartners. The industry will likely accelerate its consolidation trend over the next several years, with less competitive players expected to exit the market or become acquisition targets, AlixPartners noted.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Futura Costaglione