China's October EV Scorecard: Xpeng Breaks 50K as Nio and Li Auto Slip

October turned into a month of sharp contrasts for China’s electric vehicle makers. Xpeng crossed the 50,000 monthly delivery mark for the first time, Leapmotor kept its streak alive with yet another record, and Xiaomi Auto quietly cleared 50,000 — while Nio and Li Auto both slid backward.

The diverging numbers, published by the companies on Sunday, suggest the domestic market is no longer lifting every boat. Buyers are getting pickier, and the crowded mid-to-premium segment is where that shows up first.

Xpeng’s overseas push pays off

Xpeng handed over 50,237 vehicles in October, up 19.57% year-on-year and 21.77% month-on-month — comfortably above its previous high of 42,013 from October 2025. A big chunk of that came from outside China: 13,326 units went to overseas buyers, a record for the company and more than a quarter of the total.

At home, Xpeng moved 36,911 cars, its best domestic month in a year. For January through October, the tally stands at 334,604 units, still down 5.80% year-on-year but an improvement on the 9.20% drop seen at the nine-month mark. Chairman He Xiaopeng has said he wants monthly sales above 60,000 in the fourth quarter.

Nio’s long streak ends

Nio delivered 34,246 vehicles, a 15.23% year-on-year drop and 8.45% lower than September. That ends 31 straight months of year-on-year growth — the first such decline since February 2024 — and marks the weakest month since April.

The breakdown tells the story. The main Nio brand managed 18,125 units, up 5.73% year-on-year. Firefly hit a record 7,738, its second consecutive monthly best. Onvo, though, collapsed to 8,383 vehicles, down 51.66% year-on-year, dragging the group down almost single-handedly.

Cumulatively, Nio has delivered 334,547 vehicles in the first ten months, up 38.46% and already past its entire 2025 total. Growth has cooled from 49.24% at the nine-month point, however, and Onvo’s year-to-date figure has now slipped 9.54% into negative territory.

Li Auto waits on the i6 ramp

Li Auto’s October total came in at 29,025 vehicles, down 8.63% year-on-year and 8.78% month-on-month. It is the second consecutive annual decline and the lowest monthly figure since February.

The company is leaning on fresh product. The new-generation Li Mega battery-electric MPV topped 3,000 deliveries in October, and the 2026 Li i6 went on sale October 28 with deliveries starting a day later, bringing updates to Li Auto’s in-house driver-assistance chip, battery and cabin.

Li Auto’s plan: lift Li i6 output to 20,000 units a month in November, then push higher in December.

Year-to-date deliveries sit at 322,461, down 1.96% — a slightly wider gap than the 1.25% shortfall recorded after nine months.

Leapmotor keeps the record machine running

Leapmotor delivered 106,127 vehicles worldwide, a new high, up 50.99% year-on-year and 0.45% month-on-month. It is the fourth straight month above the 100,000 threshold, though both growth rates eased from September.

With 772,666 vehicles delivered so far this year — up 65.88% — Leapmotor has covered 77.27% of its 1,000,000-unit annual target. Hitting it will take 227,334 deliveries across November and December, or roughly 113,667 a month. That is a taller order than October’s result.

Xiaomi and Huawei head in opposite directions

Xiaomi Auto reported more than 50,000 deliveries, its best month of 2026 and enough to snap two months of year-on-year declines. The company did not give a precise number or a model split. The only other time it cleared 50,000 was December 2025, with 50,212 units, so whether October set a record depends on the undisclosed figure.

Using 50,000 as the floor, sales rose at least 2.77% year-on-year and 24.95% month-on-month, with the Sky Nomad range-extender line launched in September now feeding growth.

Huawei’s HIMA alliance went the other way. Deliveries fell more than 50% year-on-year to 33,537, pushing its year-to-date growth negative for the first time this year.

Further down the table, SAIC-GM-Wuling led on volume at 142,757, Nevo posted 63,648 and GAC Toyota 53,022. Deepal reached 32,602, Zeekr 32,483 and Dongfeng Honda 17,026, while VW Anhui managed just 1,597.