Nine Chinese new-energy vehicle brands reported October deliveries on 1 November. Three broke 50,000 units. Five went backwards. The spread between them is now wider than at any point this year.
The leaders
Leapmotor delivered 106,100 units worldwide in October, up 51 per cent year on year and 0.4 per cent on September, its fourth consecutive month above 100,000 and another monthly record. The A, B, C and D series all contributed, and overseas volume added the rest. Year to date it has sold 772,700 units against a full-year target of 1 million, which requires an average of 113,700 in November and December.
Xpeng delivered 50,200 units, up 19.6 per cent year on year and 21.8 per cent on September, a monthly record. The MONA line carried volume while the L03 ramped. Overseas deliveries reached 13,326 units, up 166 per cent year on year and also a record. Chief executive He Xiaopeng has promised that capacity for the GX and L03 will climb sharply within four months, with domestic orders prioritised.
Xiaomi delivered more than 50,000 units, its third consecutive step up after 30,000 in August and 40,000 in September, and only the second month above 50,000 since December 2025. The Pengcheng series, which began deliveries on 12 September and contributed over 10,000 units in 19 days that month, had its first full month. Xiaomi has sold about 336,500 units in the first ten months against a 550,000 target, requiring 106,800 a month from here.
The retreat
NIO delivered 34,200 units, down 15 per cent year on year and 8.5 per cent on September. Only Firefly grew on both measures, at 7,738 units. The NIO brand shipped 18,100, down 15 per cent on the month, and Onvo 8,383, roughly half its year-earlier volume.
HarmonyOS Smart Mobility, the Huawei-linked alliance, delivered about 33,500 units, halving year on year and falling 10.5 per cent on September. Deepal shipped 32,600, Zeekr 32,500 and Li Auto 29,000, all down to varying degrees.
What the split actually shows
Three brands are now pulling away on price-band coverage rather than on any single hit model. Leapmotor sells from the entry segment upward, Xiaomi covers a tight range with two body styles, and Xpeng has rebuilt volume around a lower-priced line while keeping a technology story for overseas buyers.
The five that fell have something in common: each is carrying a brand architecture that costs more to run than the volume it generates. NIO is supporting three brands, Onvo has lost half its volume, and HarmonyOS Smart Mobility is absorbing the cost of a Huawei retail network without the unit growth to pay for it.
October also settles an argument about seasonality. The month is traditionally strong in China, and it was, for three companies. For the rest, the weakness is structural rather than calendar-driven, which is a harder problem to fix with a discount.
Chinese EV competition has moved from who can build the best car to who can carry the fewest brands while still covering the price ladder.
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. The full original (in Chinese) is at https://chedongxi.com/p/379126.html.