Phate Zhang

After a disappointing 2022, some tailwinds will drive a recovery in retail sales and production in the Chinese auto sector in 2023, Goldman Sachs said.

"The short is answer is yes but we share investor frustration following the guidance cut last week," Edison Yu's team wrote.

"I am very confident that in the near future, China supply chain and the auto industry will return to normal," Li said.

The ES6 is Nio's least expensive SUV and contributed 46 percent of the company's sales from January-August 2022.

Li Auto showed strong execution and sequential growth, while Zeekr's sales performance was the biggest positive surprise of last year, said Edison Yu's team.

Tesla remains the world's largest manufacturer in the BEV segment, though BYD is rapidly closing the gap with it.

For the full year 2022, Tesla delivered 1,313,851 vehicles globally, up 40.38 percent from 935,950 vehicles in 2021.

BYD sold 111,939 pure electric passenger cars and 122,659 plug-in hybrids in December.

Tesla is offering the same purchase incentive amount as last month, but the coverage has been expanded from inventory vehicles to include all new vehicles.

For the full year 2022, GAC Aion sold 271,156 units, up 126 percent year-on-year.