New orders for electric vehicles from multiple Chinese companies, including Huawei, Xiaomi, and Leapmotor, increased more than expected during the recent seven-day National Day holiday in China, as strong sales momentum continued in October and the festival season boosted positive sentiments further in the market.

Why it matters: The figures come shortly after a number of major Chinese EV makers, led by BYD, set new records for deliveries in September with strong product launches and new government stimulus measures boosting consumer confidence, likely pointing to further sales growth ahead.

Details: Huawei on Monday announced (in Chinese) that the EV brands under its Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance (HIIMA) collectively received more than 28,600 orders with non-refundable deposits for models such as Aito’s M9 and M7 crossovers during China’s week-long National Day holiday which started on Oct. 1.

• Notably, the Luxeed R7, positioned as a direct competitor to the Tesla Model Y, reached over 9,600 pre-orders over the period. The car went on sale on Sept. 24 at a similar starting price of RMB 259,800 ($37,022) but with a longer driving range and featuring Huawei’s assisted driving tech.
• Xiaomi is seeing a similar trend, as chief executive Lei Jun confirmed rumors (in Chinese) on Monday that more than 6,000 customers converted their reservations for the SU7 sedan to a binding order over the week. The smartphone giant, with only one EV model on sale, said it aims to deliver 20,000 vehicles this month.
• Stellantis-backed Leapmotor received over 17,000 reservations with RMB 5,000 deposits for its affordable EVs over the past seven days, CEO Zhu Jiangming said in a public post on Chinese messaging app WeChat. The numbers come after the company posted its best-ever month by selling 33,767 units in September.
• Meanwhile, Li Auto and Zeekr vehicles racked up more than 20,000 and 10,000 pre-orders respectively, according to figures published by Sun Shaojun, founder of consumer behavior research agency CarFans, on Chinese microblogging platform Weibo. Both companies set sales records last month, selling more than 53,000 and 21,000 units.

Context: This time of year, known as “Golden September, Silver October,” is traditionally the high season for car consumption in China. Passenger car sales are expected to have grown 4% year-on-year and 10.1% month-on-month during September, said the China Passenger Car Association.

• The strong demand comes after an enhanced stimulus package from Beijing that started in late July and offers subsidies of up to RMB 20,000 to consumers who scrap gas-powered vehicles for new and energy-efficient ones. More than 1.2 million customers have sent their applications for the subsidy as of Oct. 4, reported Xinhua News Agency (in Chinese).
• Meanwhile, Chinese players have beefed up their product launches seeking to steal market share from more established international rivals such as Volkswagen and Tesla. At least five automakers – NIO, Geely-affiliated Zeekr, Huawei-backed Luxeed, SAIC, and Changan – introduced new models to compete with the Tesla Model Y over the past month.