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The electric vehicle sector started the week in reverse, led by large drops for Chinese electric vehicle makers Li Auto (NASDAQ:LI) -12.47%, XPeng (NYSE:XPEV) -8.15%, and NIO (NIO) -7.05%. The sector may be reacting to poor EV production data out of China, although analysts have warned the comparisons to a year ago are impacted by the timing of the Chinese New Year. Another factor may be aggressive EV pricing from BYD Company (OTCPK:BYDDF) that fell below market expectations and could indicate the pricing war will continue.
The U.S. pure-play EV sector was also reeling, with Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) down 6.44%, Lucid Group (LCID) 6.30% lower, Canoo (GOEV) down 5.16%, and Rivian Automotive (RIVN) showing a 5.09% drop. For comparison, the Nasdaq 100 was only down 0.15% at 12:29 p.m.
Other EV-related decliners included Hyliion Holdings (HYLN) -8.08%, Workhorse Group (WKHS) -8.05%, Fisker (FSR) -5.78%, and Blink Charging (BLNK) -3.96%.
While investor sentiment was poor on Monday for the pure EV sector, Detroit automakers Ford Motor (F) +4.33% and General Motors (GM) +1.01% were in positive territory for the session. Earlier in the day, Ford (F) reported unit sales rose 10.5% year-over-year in February to 174,192. Internal combustion unit sales were up 7.5%, while electric vehicle unit sales were 81% higher to 3,523 and hybrid vehicle unit sales rose 32% to 12,045. SUVs sales rose 24% during the quarter, while truck sales showed just a 1.4% gain. Ford Escape and Ford Edge sales both more than doubled during the month due to the timing of model introductions. Ford brand sales rose 9.4% during the quarter, while Lincoln brand sales jumped 38%.
Ford (F) and General Motors (GM) have pulled back from their aggressive electric vehicle timeline targets.