Chinese Automakers' Shares Rise After Strong March Sales

By Jiahui Huang

Shares of Chinese carmakers were mostly higher after many reported a recovery in March sales from subdued performance earlier this year.

Great Wall Motor gained 3.4% on Thursday in Hong Kong and Geely Automobile's shares rose 4.3%. Zhejiang Leapmotor Technology's shares were 2.15% higher and NIO's shares were up 0.4%.

BYD's shares fell 1.4% and Li Auto's shares dropped 1.1%.

Many Chinese automakers reported strong growth in March sales as the auto market recovers from weakness in January and February. The launch of new models in March and the coming Beijing Auto Show in late April are also supporting investor sentiment.

The higher energy price caused by the Middle East conflict may also have helped demand for electric vehicles.

Great Wall Motor's sales in March rose 8.4% compared with the same period a year earlier, to 106,198 units. Geely Automobile sold 233,031 units, flat from a year earlier. Zhejiang Leapmotor's sales rose 35% to 50,029 units.

Auto sales picked up in March after being hit earlier in the year because Beijing's trade-in program had been scaled back while the EV purchase tax was raised to 5% from 0%.

Li Auto's March sales rose 12% to 41,0523 units and NIO's sales more than doubled to 35,486 units. Meanwhile, sales of BYD's electric vehicles and hybrids cars fell 20% to 300,200 units.

Xiaomi said its March deliveries reached more than 20,000 units. Zeekr's total deliveries rose 90% to 29,318 units while XPeng's sales fell 17% to 27,415 units.

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

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 01, 2026 23:48 ET (03:48 GMT)