EV startup deliveries in China had a split October. Leapmotor set another delivery record with 106,127 cars, Xpeng passed 50,000 in a month for the first time, and Xiaomi had its best month of the year. Nio and Li Auto went the other way, with both brands delivering fewer cars than a year ago and fewer than in September.
October 2026 deliveries of China’s EV startups
| Brand | October 2026 | Year-on-year | Month-on-month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leapmotor | 106,127 | +51.0% | +0.5% |
| Xpeng | 50,237 | +19.6% | +21.8% |
| Xiaomi Auto | over 50,000 | at least +2.8% | at least +25% |
| Nio Inc (Nio, Onvo, Firefly) | 34,246 | -15.2% | -8.5% |
| Huawei HIMA | 33,537 | -50.8% | -10.5% |
| Zeekr | 32,483 | +51.6% | down |
| Li Auto | 29,025 | -8.6% | -8.8% |
Leapmotor keeps running away
Leapmotor delivered more than 100,000 cars for the fourth month in a row. Growth is slowing, though: October was only 0.45% better than September. After ten months the company has 772,666 deliveries, 77% of its 1 million target, so it needs about 113,700 a month in November and December. Its 2 millionth car is due to leave the line in November, and production of the B10 has started at the Stellantis plant in Zaragoza, Spain.
Xpeng breaks 50,000 thanks to exports
Xpeng’s previous record was 42,013 cars, set in October 2025. This time it delivered 50,237, and 13,326 of them went abroad, a record and 166% more than a year ago. Overseas markets now take more than a quarter of Xpeng’s volume. Sales in China also reached a one-year high of about 36,900, helped by the new Mona L05 SUV. Even so, Xpeng is still almost 6% behind last year’s pace after ten months.
Xiaomi returns to growth
Xiaomi said only that it delivered “more than 50,000” cars, its best month of 2026 and the second time ever above that mark. The new Sky Nomad range-extender family is doing the heavy lifting as SU7 and YU7 sales fade. The bad news is the target: to reach 550,000 cars this year, Xiaomi would need more than 106,000 deliveries a month until December, about twice its October result.
Nio and Li Auto slip
Nio’s 34,246 deliveries ended a streak of 31 months of year-on-year growth. The main Nio brand delivered 18,125 cars and the small Firefly brand grew to 7,738, but the family brand Onvo fell by half to 8,383. Nio has still sold more cars in ten months of 2026 than in the whole of 2025.
Li Auto delivered 29,025 cars, its weakest month since February and the only one of the “old three” startups below 30,000. The company is in the middle of a switch to its own technology: it stopped using CATL batteries this month and has just launched the updated Li i6 with its own Mach M100 driving chip and Lianshan battery. The i6 starts at about $37,200, and Li Auto wants to build 20,000 of them in November.
Huawei’s HIMA alliance had the worst month of all: its deliveries halved from a year ago to 33,537, putting its yearly total into decline for the first time in 2026.
Why it matters
The Chinese car market is shrinking and the price war goes on, so the startups that sell abroad or have fresh models are pulling ahead. Leapmotor and Xpeng both lean on exports, while Nio and Li Auto depend almost entirely on China. November and December will show whether the year-end rush is enough to rescue the targets of Xiaomi and Leapmotor.
Sources: company reports, CnEVPost, CarNewsChina.
