China's NEV Export Race in September: BYD Holds the Crown, Chery Climbs to Second

China’s passenger new energy vehicle export standings for September 2026 were released by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA), and the picture at the top is a familiar one — though the margins are shifting. BYD stayed in first place with 174,277 exported NEVs, giving it 31.1% of the market. That still puts it far ahead of the pack, but it marks a 5.2% slide from August and a 4.3-percentage-point drop in share, down from 35.4% the month before. On a yearly basis, however, the company’s momentum remains striking: the September figure represents a 151.6% jump year-on-year, and its cumulative exports for the first nine months of 2026 have already passed 1.3 million units.

The bigger story is further down the table. Chery overtook Geely to claim second place, shipping 85,990 NEVs — a 25.7% gain month-on-month and a 173.9% leap year-on-year. Its share climbed to 15.3% from 13.2% in August. Geely, meanwhile, held third with 72,893 units, up 4.3% from August and a remarkable 398.2% year-on-year, though its share dipped slightly to 13.0%. Tesla China kept fourth place with 30,529 exports, up 58.3% year-on-year but down 15.5% month-on-month — its second straight monthly decline — as its share slipped to 5.4% from 7.0%. SAIC Passenger Vehicle followed closely in fifth with 29,552 units and a 5.3% share, gaining one position from August.

Rounding out the September top ten, Changan ranked sixth with 29,325 units (5.2% share), Leapmotor stayed seventh with 27,454 units — up a striking 298.6% year-on-year and 50.4% month-on-month — for a 4.9% share. SAIC-GM-Wuling came eighth with 16,543 units and a 3.0% share, Dongfeng rose to ninth with 10,282 units and a 1.8% share, and Xpeng closed out the list in tenth with 10,055 units, also at 1.8%. GAC Aion fell out of the monthly top ten entirely.

Looking at the year-to-date NEV export rankings through September, BYD remains the dominant force with 1,301,074 units — up 94.1% year-on-year — and a 33.5% share. Chery sits second with 527,490 units (13.6%), followed by Geely with 478,804 units (12.3%), Tesla China with 361,972 units (9.3%), and SAIC Passenger Vehicle with 204,097 units (5.2%). Leapmotor, Changan, SAIC-GM-Wuling, Dongfeng and GAC Aion fill out positions six through ten, with shares of 4.1%, 3.5%, 2.8%, 2.4% and 1.8% respectively.

The broader passenger vehicle export market — which also counts conventional combustion-engine models — tells a somewhat different story. Chery led September overall with 203,765 units exported, up 46.9% year-on-year and 5.5% month-on-month for a 22.2% share, ahead of BYD’s 19.0%. The gap between the two widened to 3.2 percentage points from 1.1 points in August. For the January-September period overall, Chery stayed on top with 1,527,483 units (21.8% share), ahead of BYD’s 1,301,074 (18.5%) and Geely’s 793,965 (11.3%).