The era of smart cars is upon us as global commercialization of smart cars and autonomous driving accelerates in 2020, CITIC Securities said.

Tesla achieved sales of about 500,000 units in 2020, and the combined annual sales of China's new car makers Nio, Li Auto, and Xpeng Motors reached 100,000 units, CITIC Securities analysts led by Xu Yingbo mentioned in a report today.

In 2020, Tesla sales were 499,600 units, up 36% year-on-year. Nio sales grew 113% year-on-year to 43,700 units. Li Auto sales were up 32 times year-on-year to 32,600 units. Xpeng sales were up 112% year-over-year to 27,000 units.

Tesla's market cap rose 7.8 times in 2020, Nio's rose 16.7 times, Li Auto's market cap rose up to 1.6 times after its IPO, and Xpeng's rose up to 2.4 times.

The sharp rise in market capitalization boosted the financing scale of related companies and accelerated the development of autonomous driving and smart electric industry chain, CITIC Securities said.

In addition, the impact of Covid-19, demands of unmanned delivery vehicles, unmanned sanitation vehicles, and others were released in 2020, which are believed by CITIC Securities to accelerate the process of commercialization of autonomous driving.

Tesla has become the largest car company in the world in terms of market capitalization, with six consecutive quarters of profitability, products that still have room for price reduction, and its self-driving technology occupying the minds of users. CITIC Securities believes Tesla's sales are expected to reach 2.25 million units in 2025.

With Nio, Li Auto, and Xpeng planning to accelerate product launches, and traditional car companies such as BYD, Great Wall Motors, and Geely also accelerating the development and launch of smart cars, CITIC Securities expects market competition to intensify after 2022.

Analysts say Tesla's price cut more of a boost to China's new energy vehicle industry