Lei Kang

The EQE SUV is priced at about half the price of the EQS SUV that Mercedes-Benz launched in China on February 21.

Pony.ai has previously been approved to provide robotaxi service without a driver in the car in Beijing and Guangzhou.

"That was many years ago. Their cars are highly competitive these days," Musk said.

Retail penetration of NEVs in China was 35.6 percent in the first three weeks of May.

The 2023 Song Pro DM-i starts at RMB 5,000 less than the model's 2022 counterpart, but the two lower-priced versions come with larger battery packs.

Li Auto is hiring talent in China as well as abroad, and some of its core executives recently visited Silicon Valley, according to local media.

Xpeng aims to reach 15,000 monthly deliveries in the third quarter and 20,000 monthly deliveries in the fourth quarter, its management said.

Great Wall Motor's Haval H6 was the best-selling SUV for years, but that spot has been taken by BYD's Song family of models.

Hesai began trading on the Nasdaq on February 9 and has suffered a prolonged sell-off since then, with a cumulative decline of more than 60 percent to date.

Both models are eligible for a C$5,000 federal incentive in Canada.