New forces' "Silver October" sales intensify divergence: Leapmotor exceeds 100,000 for four consecutive months, XPeng hits new single-month high

On November 1, domestic new energy vehicle startups successively disclosed their October delivery data. Leapmotor reached monthly sales of 100,000 units for four consecutive months, while XPeng's single-month deliveries exceeded 50,000 units for the first time, setting a new all-time high. LEAPMOTOR delivered 106,127 vehicles globally in October, up 50.99% year-on-year. While continuing to lead the delivery rankings among new energy vehicle startups, it also ranked among the top three Chinese new energy vehicle brands and top four global new energy vehicle brands. As of the end of October 2026, Leapmotor's cumulative global deliveries exceeded 1.9 million vehicles, and it is about to roll off its 2 millionth vehicle in November. On October 16, Leapmotor's strategic cooperation with Stellantis Group reached an important milestone: mass production of the Leapmotor B10 officially began at the Zaragoza plant in Spain. Leveraging Stellantis Group's manufacturing system, industrial experience and European industrial layout, combined with Leapmotor's advantages in new energy vehicle technology, product development and innovation efficiency, the plant achieved localized production of the Leapmotor B10. XPeng Group delivered 50,237 new vehicles in October, up 21.77% month-on-month and 19.57% year-on-year, with single-month deliveries hitting a record high. Of these, 13,326 vehicles were delivered in overseas markets, up 166% year-on-year, also setting a record high for single-month overseas deliveries. On the product side, the XPeng MONA L05 officially launched in October, with a limited-time promotional price starting at RMB139,800. The 5,000 units of near-in-stock vehicles sold out within 3 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 its launch. The XPeng GX continues to rank among the top in the large SUV market above RMB300,000. Although pricing in the Middle East region has not been announced, it has still received nearly 4,000 orders. "With the gradual rollout of four all-new SUV models including the GX and MONA L03, sales are expected to increase significantly in the fourth quarter, targeting a monthly sales goal of 60,000 units," XPeng Group Chairman He Xiaopeng said at the second-quarter earnings conference call. NIO Inc. delivered 34,246 new vehicles in October, including 18,125 under the NIO brand, 8,383 under the ONVO brand and 7,738 under the firefly brand; cumulative deliveries from January to October reached 334,547 vehicles, up 38.5% year-on-year, a record high. In the first three quarters, NIO Inc.'s four large SUV models accumulated 188,800 deliveries, with a 30.16% market share in the large SUV market and a 70.98% share of the battery-electric large SUV market, keeping its foundation solid. Li Auto delivered 29,025 new vehicles in October, down 8.63% year-on-year, marking six consecutive year-on-year declines and two consecutive single-month year-on-year declines, ranking lower among the startups that have disclosed data. Recently, Li Auto launched a number of technological products including the "Lianshan Battery." "Our long-term investment in technology is translating into product strength that both new and existing users can genuinely feel," said Li Auto Chairman Li Xiang. "Deliveries of the new-generation Li MEGA exceeded 3,000 units, ranking first in the MPV market above RMB500,000 for two consecutive months. The 2026 Li i6 is equipped with the 'Lianshan Battery,' the Mach M100 chip and more than 20 upgrades, with orders in 72 hours far exceeding the same period last year at launch," Li Xiang revealed. OTA 9.2 will begin rolling out in November, bringing Mach VLA 2.5 and multiple cockpit Agent upgrades. Looking at the broader industry, the October auto market continued to show the characteristic of a "peak season that isn't peak." Cui Dongshu, head of the China Passenger Car Association branch of the China Automobile Dealers Association, believes that the 2026 decline is an "abnormal trough" caused by a combination of multiple short-term factors such as policy pull-forward, oil price shocks and diminishing subsidy effects. As lithium carbonate prices fall and destocking intensity weakens, the auto market is expected to bottom out and recover in 2027. This article is reprinted from "Cailian Press," edited by GMTEight's Xu Wenqiang.