After enjoying strong rallies in the final week of February, two prominent Chinese electric vehicle (EV) makers experienced sharp and unexpected stock market drops on March 3.
Specifically, both Nio (NYSE: NIO) and Li Auto (NASDAQ: LI) surged 12.18% at the end of last month from $4.27 on February 25 to $4.79 on February 27 and 24.89% from $26.36 on February 24 to $32.92 on February 26, only to collapse 4.32% and 9.73% on Monday morning.
Looking at the latest developments pertaining to the two EV makers, it would appear that the stock market action is primarily an overreaction to the delivery reports both firms issued at the beginning of March.
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Li and NIO stocks crash despite delivery growth
Li Auto unveiled its February deliveries as amounting to 26,263, which, while it may appear low due to the expectations set by the giants Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) and BYD, constitutes a 29.7% increase compared to the same month in 2024.
Likewise, Nio unveiled 13,192 vehicles delivered in the second month of 2025, which, despite being lower than Li’s figure, constitutes a much more impressive 62.2% year-over-year (YoY) growth.
Are EV makers’ shares crashing amidst post-filing volatility?
Indeed, it is difficult to find the root cause of the two Chinese EV makers’ correction, meaning that the increasingly frequent phenomenon of earnings or delivery filings triggering significant volatility no matter the contents is the most likely culprit.
Nvidia’s (NASDAQ: NVDA) strong earnings report published in late February and the sell-off that came in its wake represent the most recent high-profile example of the trend.
Another possible explanation could emerge from the seemingly more fringe facts and statistics. The fact that Nio registered only 12 cars in the Netherlands in February generated headlines in much the same way as Tesla’s sale of a single EV in South Korea did in January 2025.
Simultaneously, self-driving news from China demonstrated the software’s inability to function without error, including with regard to the more successful version, such as the Li Auto L7.
Still, it is relatively unlikely that the data from the People’s Republic had much impact on the stocks listed on American exchanges as Tesla’s ‘full self-driving’ apparently performed the worst in the Asian nation’s streets out of all the models tested.
Featured image via Shutterstock
