What happened

Shares of several Chinese electric-vehicle makers were trading higher on Monday morning, following strong sales reports for the month of October. 

Here's where things stood as of 10:15 a.m. EST, relative to their closing prices on Friday.

  • Li Auto (LI -0.40%) was up about 13.2%.
  • NIO (NIO 0.25%) was up about 10.9%.
  • XPeng (XPEV 2.87%) was up about 10.3%.

So what

It's not hard to figure out why these stocks are surging today: All three companies reported strong sales results for October.

A blue Li ONE, a midsize electric SUV

The Li ONE is an electric SUV with a twist: It has a gasoline-powered onboard generator, for times when no charging stations are available. Image source: Li Auto.

Li Auto said that it delivered 3,692 of its Li ONE SUVs in October, up from 3,504 in September. The Li ONE is a "range-extended" electric vehicle, meaning that it has a small gasoline engine that can be used as an onboard generator to recharge its batteries while the vehicle is underway.

It's not exactly a zero-emissions vehicle, but in the (many) parts of China where electric-vehicle charging stations are still scarce, it's an intriguing product -- and that has some auto investors intrigued by the company.  

A blue NIO EC6 SUV

October was the first full month of production for NIO's new EC6, a sporty five-passenger crossover. Image source: NIO.

Lots of auto investors have been intrigued by NIO. The largest of China's electric-vehicle start-ups said that it delivered 5,055 vehicles in October, doubling its year-ago total and breaking the 5,000-delivery monthly barrier for the first time. That total included 883 examples of NIO's new EC6, a sporty five-passenger crossover that went into production in September. 

NIO said in August that it was working to increase its production capacity from a maximum of about 4,000 vehicles a month to 5,000. That effort appears to have been successful. 

A silver XPeng P7, a sleek electric sedan

XPeng's sleek P7 sedan has sold well since its launch earlier in 2020. Image source: XPeng.

XPeng more than kept pace with its rivals. The company said that it delivered 3,040 vehicles in October, up 229% from a year ago. Of note: The company's P7 sports sedan, introduced earlier this year, accounted for 2,104 of those deliveries. (XPeng's older G3 crossover SUV accounted for the remainder.)

Now what

All three companies are expected to report third-quarter earnings results in the next few weeks: XPeng on Thursday, Nov. 12; Li Auto on Friday, Nov. 13; and NIO the following Tuesday, Nov. 17. All will report in the morning, before the U.S. markets open. 

Given that all three companies posted strong sales results during the July-to-September period, these earnings reports should be good ones. Stay tuned.