Jefferies: China's high-end NEV brands surpass peers and maintain NIO's SW (09866) “holding” rating

The Zhitong Finance App learned that Jefferies released a research report saying that passenger car retail sales in the Mainland fell 24.3% year on year to 1.52 million units in August, falling for the seventh month in a row. Exports during the period reached 890,000 vehicles, up 67% year on year and down 3.5% month on month. The NEV penetration rate exceeded half to 54% in the first eight months of this year, compared with 42% in 2025. The overseas market mix was rapidly upgraded, with mainland brands breaking records of 9.5% of the European passenger car market and 20.1% of the NEV market. The bank believes that the high penetration rate of overseas NEVs reflects the decline in the penetration rate of fuel vehicles rather than the strength of NEVs.

The report mentioned that in August, the average sales price of NIO - SW (09866) rose 53% year on year to 432,000 yuan, while Celis (09927)'s market price was 402,000 yuan, both higher than Mercedes-Benz's 348,000 yuan. Meanwhile, the average price of Geely Auto (00175)'s Jikrypton and Ideal Automobile-W (02015) is also higher than that of BMW and Audi. The bank maintains NIO's “holding” rating.

The bank believes that the four Chinese high-end NEV brands have all surpassed their closest German luxury car peers, while the latter's discounts have generally increased by 10% to 11% year over year. As the downturn in the mainland market deepened, the average selling price was maintained for two consecutive months, indicating that the leading position of mainland brands was structural rather than a random factor in the product mix.