(Yicai) Nov. 24 -- Shanghai is expected to beat Xi'an this year to once more become the leading Chinese city for new energy vehicle production.

Shanghai's NEV output will likely exceed 1.2 million units this year, according to figures released by the city’s statistics bureau on Nov. 17.

Shanghai was China's leading NEV manufacturing hub for many years. But boosted by Shenzhen-based battery and electric vehicle giant BYD, output in Xi’an reached 1.02 million last year, exceeding Shanghai's 988,600. But Shanghai has again outpaced the capital of northwestern Shaanxi province since the start of the year.

In the first 10 months of the year, Shanghai produced 1.03 million NEVs, up 38 percent from a year earlier and beating Xi'an's total for last year. The two cities are the only ones in China where NEV output tops one million annually.

Shanghai produced 113,800 NEVs last month alone, and averaged more than 100,000 in each of the previous nine months. Meanwhile, the number rolling off assembly lines across Shaanxi did not exceed 100,000 until August.

The two main electric carmakers in the cities are BYD in Xi'an and Tesla in Shanghai.

BYD sold more than 2.1 million NEVs in the 10 months ended Oct. 31, up 58 percent from a year earlier and ranking first by sales in China, according to data from the China Passenger Car Association. Tesla ranked second with 462,355, up 38 percent.

But BYD's popular models such as the Seagull, Yuan Plus, and Dolphin were not manufactured at its Xi'an plant. Sales of the BYD Song Plus DM-i, the main model produced in the city, slumped almost 41 percent in the first 10 months from the same period last year.

Tesla's Shanghai plant made 727,000 vehicles last year, a 50 percent increase on 2021, achieving an output value of CNY183.9 billion (USD25.8 billion) and accounting for 23 percent of the city's total auto sector’s output value. Sales volumes of Shanghai-based brands such as the Feifan and IM are relatively lower.

In this context, Shanghai-based SAIC Motor announced a three-year action plan for the development of NEVs, trying to boost its annual EV sales to 3.5 million units by 2025, 3.5 times the figure of last year at a compound annual growth rate of 50 percent. Moreover, SAIC's own brands will contribute 70 percent to Shanghai's overall NEV sales by 2025, according to the plan.

Editors: Shi Yi, Futura Costaglione