Is the new king of car manufacturing in 2026 about to ascend the throne?

On the first day of February, several new car - making forces successively announced their sales figures for the first month of 2026.

Typically, December is the traditional peak season for car sales, when the sales of each manufacturer reach the annual high. In the following January and February, there is significant downward pressure. This year, with factors such as the change of the new - energy vehicle purchase tax from full exemption to half exemption, the month - on - month sales of new car - making forces generally declined, which is basically in line with the general market expectations.

The data corroborates this trend from the side. According to the data from the Passenger Car Association, from January 1st to 11th, the retail sales of the national passenger car market reached 328,000 units, a year - on - year decrease of 32%. During the same period, the wholesale volume of national passenger car manufacturers was 381,000 units, a year - on - year decrease of 40%.

Compared with the year - on - year and month - on - month performance, what is more worthy of attention is the reshuffle of the top rankings. According to the data statistics before the time of publication, Leapmotor, which firmly held the monthly sales championship of new car - making forces last year and won the annual sales championship of new car - making forces, was overtaken by Hongmeng Zhixing and Xiaomi Auto in January. The throne of the new car - making forces' champion may change hands.

Sales before the time of publication. Data source: Car companies

01 The former sales champion faces a setback at the beginning of the year

During the month, Hongmeng Zhixing officially announced that it had delivered a cumulative total of 57,915 vehicles in January 2026, a year - on - year increase of 65.6%. Compared with the 89,611 vehicles delivered in December last year, the delivery volume in January decreased by 31,696 vehicles, a month - on - month decrease of 35.3%.

Hongmeng Zhixing's current brands include Wenjie, Zhijie, Xiangjie, Zunjie, and Shangjie. Among them, the Wenjie brand is the sales pillar of Hongmeng Zhixing. The sales volume of Wenjie in January 2026 was 40,016 vehicles, a year - on - year increase of 83%.

Image source: Hongmeng Zhixing

It should be noted that Xiaomi's overtaking of Leapmotor was achieved when the main models of Xiaomi Auto were about to be upgraded. In January 2026, Xiaomi Auto delivered more than 39,000 vehicles. In December last year, Xiaomi Auto delivered more than 50,000 vehicles.

In response to the data change, Lei Jun, the chairman and CEO of Xiaomi, said that the SU7 was about to be upgraded, and currently, the YU7 was mainly being delivered.

People familiar with the situation close to Xiaomi Auto also told the media that it was mainly affected by the discontinuation of the old - model Xiaomi Auto. "The first - generation SU7 of Xiaomi Auto has been discontinued, and the production line of the Xiaomi Auto factory is currently fully preparing for the new - generation SU7."

Previously, on January 7th, Xiaomi Auto announced that the new - generation SU7 had started pre - orders with a small deposit and would be officially launched in April. The new car offers three versions, with pre - sale prices of 229,900 yuan for the standard version, 259,900 yuan for the Pro version, and 309,900 yuan for the Max version. Compared with the old - model SU7, the prices of the standard and Pro versions of the new - generation SU7 have increased by 14,000 yuan, and the price of the Max version has increased by 10,000 yuan.

Last year, Xiaomi Auto delivered more than 410,000 vehicles in total. In a live - stream in January this year, Lei Jun announced that Xiaomi Auto's delivery target for the whole year of 2026 was 550,000 vehicles.

Image source: Xiaomi Auto

In contrast, Leapmotor, which was overtaken, also achieved a high - speed year - on - year growth at the beginning of the year. Leapmotor delivered a total of 32,059 vehicles in January, a year - on - year increase of 27%. Last year was the breakout year for Leapmotor. Since March 2025, Leapmotor has been the sales champion of new car - making forces for 10 consecutive months. The sales volume exceeded 50,000 from July to August, exceeded 60,000 in September, exceeded 70,000 from October to November, and exceeded 60,000 in December.

Last year, Leapmotor delivered a cumulative total of 596,555 vehicles, a year - on - year increase of 103%, winning the sales championship among new car - making forces. Its excellent sales performance led Leapmotor to set a target of selling more than one million vehicles this year at the beginning of the year.

The temporary "defeat" at present does not mean that Leapmotor has no chance to return to the top. The competition in the car market at the beginning of the year is fierce, and the rankings are still changing. The competition for the championship among leading car companies may last throughout the year.

Image source: Leapmotor

02 The elimination competition continues, and "lost" enterprises need to regain their strength

In addition to the competition for the sales championship among the above - mentioned car companies, the car market deliveries in January also reflected the Matthew effect of "the strong get stronger".

While the sales of competitors such as Hongmeng Zhixing and Leapmotor increased year - on - year at the beginning of the year, Li Auto failed to get out of the dilemma of falling behind in the new month. In January 2026, Li Auto sold 27,668 vehicles, compared with 29,927 vehicles in the same period in 2025, a year - on - year decrease of 7.5%.

In 2025, Li Auto delivered 406,300 vehicles in total, a year - on - year decrease of about 19%, and only completed 63.40% of the annual adjusted sales target of 640,000 vehicles. It was the only new car - making enterprise with a year - on - year sales decline.

According to media reports, Li Xiang, the CEO of Li Auto, recently held an online all - staff meeting, which lasted nearly two hours. Most of the content was Li Xiang sharing his trend judgment on AI.

However, since this all - staff meeting did not mention the automotive business plan, many employees complained after the meeting, saying that "they couldn't understand a single word" and "didn't know the meaning of holding this all - staff meeting". Some employees directly said that what everyone wanted to hear was not about AI, but a reflection on the company's mistakes over the past year and a practical plan for next year's development.

Currently, the outside world is still observing whether Li Auto can recover its sales this year.

Image source: Li Auto

More new - energy brands under central and local state - owned enterprises, such as GAC Trumpchi, Hyper Aion, Yipai, and Voyah, all achieved year - on - year sales growth in the latest month. However, the monthly sales volume of Voyah is still just over 10,000. Currently, the industry generally believes that a monthly sales volume of 20,000 vehicles has become the "lifeline" for new car - making forces, and Voyah still needs to continue to capture the market.

In the car - making arena in 2026, the smoke of war has filled the air since the first month of the year. The competition for the championship, the replacement of the old by the new, and the Matthew effect are all happening simultaneously. Every competition for market share among leading players may reshape the future rankings.

The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers predicts that in 2026, the growth rate of the new - energy vehicle market will decline from 28% in 2025 to 15.2%. This means that the Chinese car market may bid farewell to the era of high - speed growth and enter a new stage dominated by stock competition. Against this background, the "fleet - style" strategy widely used by car companies is facing severe challenges.

For car companies to win in the competition, an unavoidable area is more useful and cheaper intelligent assisted driving. Cui Dongshu, the secretary - general of the Passenger Car Market Information Joint Conference of the China Automobile Dealers Association, pointed out that the core reason why Chinese new - energy vehicles can gain an advantage in the global market is that technological equalization has broken the price barrier, and models in the 150,000 - yuan range can be equipped with high - end configurations such as urban NOA.

He further judged that "now consumers no longer pay for the new - car label but for good products."

This year, a gradually clear trend is that more manufacturers hope to introduce urban NOA into 100,000 - yuan - level vehicles. Leading intelligent - driving suppliers such as Qingzhou Zhihang and Horizon have previously stated that they want to "introduce urban NOA into 100,000 - yuan - level vehicles", and among car manufacturers, BYD has also previously said that it will conduct an important OTA to enable 100,000 - yuan - level vehicles to "drive themselves" during commuting. This means that it is inevitable for car companies to compete in intelligent driving in more affordable models.

In addition, the construction of the 800V high - voltage platform and the super - charging network may enter the decisive period of user experience this year. Against the background of subsidy reduction and continuous price wars, reducing the overall vehicle cost through technological innovation, platform architecture optimization, production scale, and refined management will still be the core ability for car companies to maintain profitability.

In the stock market with a slow - down growth rate, only enterprises that can achieve an extreme balance in the three core areas of intelligent experience, charging efficiency, and cost control can define the rules of the game in the next era.

This article is from the WeChat public account "Phoenix Finance" , author: Company Research Institute, published by 36Kr with authorization.