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On November 1, several Chinese EV startups reported October 2026 delivery figures. Leapmotor delivered 106,127 vehicles, marking its fourth consecutive month above 100,000 units. XPeng Group delivered 50,237 vehicles and Xiaomi Auto delivered more than 50,000, both crossing the 50,000 threshold for the first time. NIO delivered 34,246 vehicles and Li Auto delivered 29,025, with both posting year-on-year and month-on-month declines. Zeekr, Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance and Deepal were in the 30,000 range. The China Passenger Car Association expects full-year passenger vehicle retail sales of 18.5 million units, down 22% year-on-year, and forecasts that the Chinese auto market may bottom out and recover in 2027, though divergence will continue to intensify.
Key Elements
On November 1, major Chinese EV startups disclosed their October 2026 delivery figures, with performance gaps widening markedly. Leapmotor’s monthly deliveries again topped the 100,000 mark, while XPeng Group and Xiaomi Auto crossed the 50,000 threshold for the first time. NIO and Li Auto both saw year-on-year and month-on-month declines, with Li Auto posting its sixth consecutive year-on-year monthly drop.
Based on the disclosed data, Leapmotor delivered 106,127 vehicles globally in October, up about 51% year-on-year and up 0.45% month-on-month, maintaining six-figure monthly sales for a fourth consecutive month and remaining at the top of the startup delivery rankings. As of the end of October, Leapmotor’s cumulative global deliveries exceeded 1.9 million vehicles, and the company plans to roll out its 2 millionth vehicle in November. On the overseas front, the Leapmotor B10 began mass production on October 16 at a factory in Zaragoza, Spain. The plant leverages Stellantis Group’s manufacturing system and European industrial footprint, combined with Leapmotor’s efficiency advantages in new energy technology and product development, to achieve localized production. Leapmotor also operates a battery plant in Mahón, Spain, responsible for battery module assembly and related key processes, with the two plants working in coordination.
XPeng Group delivered 50,237 new vehicles in October, up about 20% year-on-year and nearly 22% month-on-month, setting a record high for monthly deliveries. Overseas deliveries reached 13,326 units, up 166% year-on-year, also a record for monthly overseas deliveries. On the product side, the XPeng MONA L05 officially launched in October, with a limited-time promotional price starting at 139,800 yuan (approximately $21,000); 5,000 near-inventory vehicles sold out within three minutes of launch, and nationwide volume deliveries began on November 1. The MONA series has accumulated more than 360,000 deliveries in the two years since launch. The XPeng GX maintained a leading position in the large SUV market above 300,000 yuan (approximately $45,000); in the Middle East, it received nearly 4,000 orders despite pricing not yet being announced. XPeng Group Chairman He Xiaopeng previously said on the second-quarter earnings call that with the rollout of four all-new SUV models including the GX and MONA L03, sales are expected to rise significantly in the fourth quarter, targeting monthly sales of 60,000 vehicles.
On the intelligentization and commercialization front, XPeng Group received approval on October 26 for a smart connected vehicle application demonstration operating license in Guangzhou, allowing it to conduct L4-level Robotaxi demonstration operations across the entire city. The company said this means its Robotaxi business now holds public demonstration operating qualifications, moving from technical validation toward operational and business model validation. During the same period, XPeng also launched its smart vehicle solutions business “XPENG AI ENGINEERING,” offering global partners one-stop capabilities spanning vehicle R&D, production and after-sales service, while also opening physical AI ecosystem solutions including humanoid robots, Robotaxi and flying cars.
Xiaomi Auto delivered more than 50,000 vehicles in October, crossing the 50,000 mark for the first time in a single month and hitting a new high for the year. Xiaomi said its new Pengcheng series had its first full delivery month after launch, driving overall sales to a new level; as Pengcheng production capacity continues to ramp up in the fourth quarter, the delivery curve is expected to rise further.
In contrast to the top three, NIO and Li Auto faced delivery pressure in October. NIO delivered 34,246 new vehicles in October, down 15.23% year-on-year and about 8.45% month-on-month. By brand, the NIO brand delivered 18,125 vehicles, the Onvo brand delivered 8,383 and the firefly brand delivered 7,738. From January to October, NIO’s cumulative deliveries reached 334,547 vehicles, up 38.5% year-on-year and a record high, with cumulative deliveries totaling 1.332 million vehicles. In the first three quarters, NIO’s four large SUV models accumulated 188,800 deliveries, giving it a 30.16% share of the large SUV market and a 70.98% share of the battery-electric large SUV segment. However, under its multi-brand strategy, Onvo and firefly have yet to provide effective support for overall volume.
Li Auto delivered 29,025 new vehicles in October, down 8.63% year-on-year and 8.78% month-on-month, ranking near the bottom among startups that have disclosed data. As of the end of October, Li Auto’s cumulative historical deliveries stood at 1.86 million vehicles. On the product side, Li Auto recently unveiled its self-developed Lianshan battery and Lianshan electric motor, and launched the Lianshan battery assurance program; the 2026 Li Auto i6 launched on October 28, equipped with the Lianshan battery, the MACH M100 chip and more than 20 upgrades, with orders in the first 72 hours far exceeding the same period last year at launch. Li Auto Chairman Li Xiang said: “Our long-term investment in technology is translating into product strength that both new and existing users can genuinely feel.” He also revealed that deliveries of the new-generation Li Auto MEGA exceeded 3,000 units, ranking first in the MPV market above 500,000 yuan (approximately $75,000) for two consecutive months, and that an OTA 9.2 rollout in November will bring MACH VLA 2.5 and multiple cockpit Agent upgrades.
Among other startups, Zeekr delivered 32,483 vehicles in October, up 51.6% year-on-year but down 12.72% month-on-month; from January to October, cumulative deliveries exceeded 320,000 vehicles, up 94.4% year-on-year, already exceeding its annual sales target of 300,000 vehicles ahead of schedule. Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance delivered 33,537 vehicles in October, down 10.54% from about 37,500 the previous month, with an average transaction price above 400,000 yuan (approximately $60,000) across its lineup and cumulative deliveries exceeding 1.6 million vehicles. Deepal sold 32,060 vehicles globally in October, down 11.39% year-on-year but up 8.01% month-on-month; Huajing Auto delivered 7,507 vehicles, up 1.23% month-on-month, maintaining growth for six consecutive months since its launch in May.
October deliveries for major EV startups are as follows:
| Automaker | October Deliveries (units) | Year-on-Year | Month-on-Month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leapmotor | 106,127 | +51% | +0.45% |
| XPeng Group | 50,237 | +20% | +22% |
| Xiaomi Auto | Over 50,000 | — | — |
| NIO | 34,246 | -15.23% | About -8.45% |
| Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance | 33,537 | — | -10.54% |
| Zeekr | 32,483 | +51.6% | -12.72% |
| Deepal | 32,060 | -11.39% | +8.01% |
| Li Auto | 29,025 | -8.63% | -8.78% |
Note: Data sources are public disclosures by automakers on November 1; some automakers did not disclose year-on-year or month-on-month changes.
On the broader industry front, the October auto market continued to show a “peak season that isn’t peak” pattern. China Passenger Car Association data show that in September, national passenger vehicle retail sales totaled 1.618 million units, down 28% year-on-year, while new energy vehicle retail sales totaled 1.084 million units, down 16.7% year-on-year, with a new energy retail penetration rate of 67%, up 9.1 percentage points year-on-year. From October 1 to 25, national passenger vehicle retail sales totaled 1.145 million units, down 26% year-on-year; new energy vehicle retail sales totaled 753,000 units, down 13% year-on-year, with a penetration rate of 65.7%. The China Passenger Car Association believes the most prominent feature of the auto market is the severe weakness of the traditional “Golden September,” as the share that fuel vehicles could capture during the “Golden September and Silver October” peak season has weakened markedly in the winter selling period under high oil prices, and most new energy vehicle brands currently lack hot-selling models.
The China Passenger Car Association expects full-year passenger vehicle retail sales of 18.5 million units, down 22% year-on-year. The organization attributes the deep adjustment in 2026 to a combination of reversible short-term factors including policy pull-forward, oil price shocks, AI cost spillovers and low consumer willingness to spend, and judges that as short-term shocks reverse, cost pressures ease and supply-side product strength improves, the Chinese auto market is expected to bottom out and recover in 2027, with retail growth in a range of 0% to 5%, averaging about 2%, though market divergence will continue to intensify.
Exports are seen as the most certain growth driver for the current auto market. Huang Yana, associate researcher at the Institute of Industrial Economics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said: “Going global is the most certain growth driver for the current auto market. We should accelerate the construction of an export support system to provide systematic support for automakers’ global expansion.” Chen Shihua, deputy secretary-general of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, previously said that the share of new energy vehicle exports in China’s total vehicle exports has exceeded 50% for four consecutive months this year, and new energy vehicles leading exports has become a trend.
From a competitive landscape perspective, the threshold for the top tier of EV startups has been raised to monthly sales above 50,000 vehicles, with scale effects and overseas markets becoming key variables determining rankings. Leapmotor has consolidated its lead through sustained volume growth and localized European manufacturing, XPeng has set records on the back of a new product cycle and overseas expansion, and Xiaomi has rapidly ramped up volume amid production capacity climbing. NIO and Li Auto face the dual test of multi-brand coordination and product generational change, with Li Auto pinning its hopes on self-developed batteries, chips and new vehicle orders translating into delivery growth in the fourth quarter. For the industry as a whole, against the backdrop of full-year retail sales expected to decline by more than 20%, head concentration and tail-end consolidation are likely to accelerate simultaneously, and the pace of overseas deliveries and commercialization of intelligent driving will become core observation points for investors assessing the medium-term competitiveness of each automaker.
