China's carmakers shipped more new energy vehicles in October than in any month before, by the industry's early count. The China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) estimates that passenger NEV wholesale sales reached 1.8 million units, up 12% from a year earlier and 8% from September. CnEVPost says that would beat the previous monthly record of 1,706,000 units, set in November 2025.
The top five
- BYD: 483,125 passenger NEVs
- Geely: 213,165
- Chery: 134,471
- Changan: 122,422
- Leapmotor: 103,021
Unit figures are from CnEVPost. Both reports say Geely, Chery, SAIC Passenger Vehicle, Xpeng and Great Wall Motor set monthly records in October, and that NEV sales at joint ventures SAIC Volkswagen and FAW-Volkswagen doubled year on year.
How the estimate works
The figure is preliminary. In September, makers that sold more than 10,000 NEVs accounted for 93% of the passenger NEV market. Those makers reported about 1.62 million units for October, and the CPCA scaled that up using September's share, the Internet Info Agency explains.
CnEVPost reports that the CPCA credited the Mid-Autumn holiday falling in September and overseas oil prices staying high for longer than expected. Trade uncertainty and a high comparison base from last year's rush to buy before trade-in subsidies tightened held growth back. Adding October puts the year's passenger NEV wholesale total at about 13.22 million, up 9.9%, by CnEVPost's count.