On 1 August, fourteen carmakers published July sales. The picture splits cleanly between camps.
Among new-energy startups, three more than doubled year on year: Leapmotor at 101,300 (up 102 per cent), Zeekr at 35,800 (up 111 per cent) and Arcfox at 23,500 (up 150 per cent). Leapmotor, the sales leader among startups, set a record and broke 100,000 for the first time.
But seven new-energy brands fell month on month, including Harmony Intelligent Mobility at 45,000 (down 11 per cent), XPeng at 38,000 (down 5 per cent), NIO Group at 35,900 (up 71 per cent year on year but down 11 per cent month on month), Li Auto at 30,500, Deepal at 29,200 (down 13 per cent), Voyah at 13,200 (down 7 per cent) and Xiaomi above 30,000.
Leapmotor’s rise and the overseas push
Leapmotor’s jump comes from steady contribution across its A, B, C and D model families plus overseas expansion. The B10 completed Mexico certification and began delivery, marking its entry into North America. Its A10 drew more than 40,000 firm orders in its first month.
Zeekr’s gain rests on strong flagship sales, new-model capacity and global channel growth. Arcfox climbed on low-priced models. NIO’s rise reflects a multi-brand strategy, with the NIO brand at 20,000, Onvo at 10,200 and Firefly at 5,771, up 143.9 per cent.
The traditional giants lean on exports
BYD sold close to 420,000 units in July, up 22 per cent year on year, with 179,800 exported, a record. Chery Group sold 276,800, up 23 per cent, of which 202,500 were exported, up 70.1 per cent and a fifth straight month of fresh export records, making it the first Chinese carmaker to pass 200,000 exports in a single month. Geely reached 250,200, with overseas exports above 100,000 for two straight months.
A weak July, a fierce autumn
July is the traditional slow season. The total market was about 1.52 million units, down roughly 17 per cent year on year. Against that soft backdrop, several startups still grew, and the month-on-month dips mostly reflect seasonality. As major new models begin delivery, competition will sharpen further.
Xiaomi’s range-extended Pengcheng SUV series, the N70 and N90, launches in September and is key to its annual target of 550,000 units. With 215,000 sold in the first seven months, it needs about 67,000 a month for the rest of the year.
Editor’s note: This is an adapted translation of the original CheDongXi report. It has been trimmed and restructured for readability for an international business audience.
