As Tesla stock falters, U.S.-listed shares of these two Chinese EV makers are on the rise. Here’s why

It’s no secret that Tesla stock (Nasdaq: TSLA) has had a horrible 2025. After ending 2024 with a bang, the electric vehicle maker’s shares declined rapidly as competition increased, CEO Elon Musk’s involvement in politics turned off many of Tesla’s liberal customers, and President Donald Trump’s tariffs sank global markets.

Today, Tesla shares sit at around $320—a far cry from their all-time high of more than $488 set in December.

Meanwhile, things are looking up for the stock prices of two Chinese electric vehicle makers Nio and XPeng. Though these brands are not especially well known in America, their stocks are traded on U.S. markets, and each company has seen its share prices surge this year—particularly in the last week. Here’s what you need to know.

XPeng Inc. stock is up over 90% in 2025

XPeng is a Chinese electric vehicle company that was founded in 2014. Its shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker XPEV. And since the year began, those shares have surged.

Since January, XPEV shares have risen a staggering 91% as of yesterday’s market close. Yesterday alone, the company’s share price surged more than 11%, and today, in premarket trading as of the time of this writing, XPEV shares are up another 2% to $23.24.

XPeng Inc. is one of the many EV players in China, and it currently has a market cap of around $20 billion, making it much smaller than China’s EV king BYD, which is currently worth around $133 billion. Of course, XPeng is also minuscule next to Tesla and its $1 trillion market cap.

Yet XPeng has something these other carmakers don’t—a stock price that has surged in 2025. As noted by BarChart, XPeng has seen success with its new models this year in China, which has helped fuel sales. The company has also seen exports grow in several foreign markets in 2025, including Europe.

But what has most recently helped Xpeng stock this week in particular is its Q2 financials. The company reported gross second-quarter margins of 14.3%, 3.8% higher than in the previous quarter. These growing margins are helping fuel the company’s bottom line, something that is quite remarkable considering the EV price wars in China right now. Price wars usually lead to reduced margins as automakers compete to lower the sticker price of cars.

Even better from an investors’ point of view: Quarterly sales surged 125.3% year-over-year. Deliveries also hit a record quarterly high of 103,181.

Nio stock is up than 14% in the past two days

But XPeng isn’t the only Chinese EV maker having a great week. Nio Inc. (NYSE: NIO), a Chinese EV company also founded in 2014, saw its stock price surge yesterday. NIO shares jumped over 9.2% to close at $5.54 yesterday. Today, the EV maker’s shares are up another 5.3% in premarket trading as of this writing.

But unlike Xpeng, Nio shares aren’t up because of a quarterly report (the company reports its Q2 of fiscal 2025 results on September 2). Instead, Nio shares are up because the company has announced a new affordable SUV.

As reported by CNBC, this week Nio unveiled its new ES8 SUV. The ES8 is designed for affordability—something seen as critical in China’s increasingly crowded EV market. The vehicle will be priced at around 308,800 yuan, which is just around $43,000. It also comes with a battery subscription plan, which allows owners to upgrade or swap batteries via a monthly fee.

Nio has traditionally targeted the high-end EV market in China, but with the release of the ES8 SUV, coming in September, the company is targeting a new segment—and investors seem bullish about the move.

In June, Nio reported its Q1 2025 results, in which it revealed 42,094 EV deliveries—up 42.1% from the year earlier. Sales grew 18.6% for the quarter versus a year earlier, but had declined by 43.1% from the earlier quarter. Revenues grew 21.5% YOY to $1.6 billion.

As of yesterday’s stock price surge, Nio is valued at around $11.8 billion.