HANGZHOU, CHINA – SEPTEMBER 21, 2025 – Viewers watch a new energy vehicle under BYD at an auto show in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China on September 21, 2025.
(Photo credit should read CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images)
Cfoto | Future Publishing | Getty Images
China’s electric-vehicle behemoth BYD posted its first year-on-year decline in deliveries in 2025, even as it entered the peak season for autos, in yet another sign that the market leader is facing a slowdown.
BYD delivered 393,060 units in September, marking an almost a 6% decline year over year.
That comes after the firm reportedly slashed its sales target for this year by as much as 16% to 4.6 million deliveries, amid a fierce price competition in the domestic market.
Still, BYD continued to dominate the market share, taking up more than 54% of total EV sales in September.
Upstarts shine
On the other hand, EV upstarts across the board set new records in their monthly car delivery numbers, with some of them buoyed by cheaper, new launches.
Promotions from the car makers and incentive policies from the Chinese government government have also supported “a sequential improvement” in sales that usually occurs during the peak period in the last four months of the year, said Joey Ying, an autos analyst from Nomura.
Leapmotor delivered 66,657 vehicles in September, increasing over 97% year on year and continuing its streak of all-time record highs. The Stellantis-backed company’s latest figure also surpassed the 50,000 mark it reached in July.
Leapmotor’s C10 and C16 models topped sales in their own size categories (under 200,000 yuan) for the fourth and eighth straight month, respectively.
In a similar beat, the Huawei-backed Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance, which includes brands such as Aito, Chery, and Maextro, set a fresh monthly record with 52,916 units across its entire series.
The automaker also surpassed the 40,000 range that it’s been hovering within since May.
Xiaomi clocked a new milestone with over 40,000 units in September. Although the electric vehicle carmaker did not specify the exact numbers, the latest figure was about twice of what it delivered in January.
The EV rising star YU7, Xiaomi’s second production model and direct competitor to Tesla’s Model Y, cumulatively delivered a total of 40,000 units over the past three months since it officially launched in July.
Also beating its own monthly delivery record was Xpeng, with 41,581 deliveries in September, marking a 95% year-over-year increase and up 10% on a monthly basis. The automaker also exceeded the 40,000 mark, after staying within the 30,000s range since last November.
Nio posted 34,749 deliveries in September, notching the second straight month of fresh record highs. Nearly half of the sales were of its family-oriented smart electric vehicle brand, Onvo.
Meanwhile, Li Auto rebounded in September with 33,951 deliveries, after two consecutive months of sales below its usual 30,000 range. The startup recorded declining sales over the past three months despite a new car launch in August, following a marketing blunder.
Geely-owned Zeekr made 18,257 deliveries in September, slightly below its record of 18,908 units in May.