Third-quarter earnings from China’s three main EV makers, Nio (蔚来), XPeng (小鹏汽车) and Li Auto (理想汽车), show a widening performance gap across the country’s electric vehicle market. The China EV Q3 earnings highlight how quickly China’s EV market has shifted from growth-at-all-costs to a test of operational discipline. A decade into the race, none has locked in stable profitability, but some are getting closer than others.
XPeng delivered the strongest quarter operationally. Revenue doubled year on year to RMB 20.38 billion (about US $2.83 billion), supported by record deliveries that pushed gross margin above 20% for the first time. That scale effect reflected itself in company’s bottom line, with net losses narrowing sharply to RMB 380 million (about US $53 million).
Nio’s results were more ambiguous. Revenue reached a record RMB 21.79 billion (about US$3.03 billion), and margins improved to their highest level in nearly three years as new models entered the market. But losses remained deep at RMB 3.48 billion (about US $483 million). The company continues to make heavy sales, invest highly in marketing and infrastructure, but its cycle of new models has been slower to translate into big gains.
Li Auto reported the biggest reversal. Once the profitability outlier among the trio, it slipped into a RMB 624 million (about US $87 million) quarterly loss after a decline in deliveries. The quarter was hit by a one-off recall provision tied to the Mega MPV, tougher competition in its core range-extender segment, and slower-than-expected traction in pure-electric models – a category it has been cautious about entering.
Together, the China EV Q3 earnings suggest the nation’s EV race has moved beyond the glitz of product launches and into a more complete phase. The next gains increasingly look like they’ll be made in the realms of supply chain leverage, software capability and manufacturing efficiency rather than products that wow the market. With the key players eyeing breakeven in the near future and overseas expansion likely on the cards, the next test will be whether scale can finally convert into stability.
