In August, the sales of Leapmotor and XPeng reached new highs. The "Golden September" of the auto market is here.

On September 1st, new car - making power brands successively announced their sales "report cards" for August.

Official data shows that Leapmotor once again achieved monthly deliveries of over 50,000 vehicles. XPeng set a new monthly delivery record in August. Xiaomi Auto delivered over 30,000 new vehicles in August. In addition, the delivery volumes of several other brands increased significantly year - on - year in August.

The China Passenger Car Association predicts that the retail sales of new energy passenger vehicles in the domestic market are expected to reach about 1.1 million units in August, with a penetration rate of 56.7%. With the continued high popularity of the auto market in August, many new models are set to be launched or make their debuts in September. The "Golden September and Silver October" period in the auto market has kicked off.

Sales of some new car - making power brands in August. Source: Compiled and mapped by Time Finance

Deliveries of Multiple Automobile Enterprises Doubled

Leapmotor delivered 57,066 new vehicles in August, a year - on - year increase of 88%, setting a new record for monthly deliveries and once again becoming the monthly sales champion among new car - making power brands. In the first half of this year, Leapmotor (9863.HK) achieved profitability, becoming the second new car - making power enterprise to achieve semi - annual profitability. Leapmotor revealed that the new personalized strategic product, the Leapmotor Lafa5, will make its debut at the Munich Auto Show in September. Time Finance sent an interview request to Leapmotor regarding the specific product positioning and pricing strategy of the Leapmotor Lafa5, but as of press time, no response was received.

HarmonyOS Smart Mobility followed closely behind Leapmotor, delivering 44,579 new vehicles across its entire lineup in August. On August 25th, the pre - sale of the Shangjie H5, the first model of the "Fifth Generation" Shangjie series under HarmonyOS Smart Mobility, was launched, with a pre - sale price starting from 169,800 yuan. On August 26th, Shangjie Auto announced that the small - order reservations for the Shangjie H5 exceeded 50,000 units 18 hours after the pre - sale began.

Among "NIO, XPeng, and Li Auto", XPeng delivered 37,709 new vehicles in August, a year - on - year increase of 169%. In the first eight months of this year, XPeng's cumulative deliveries reached 271,615 vehicles, a year - on - year increase of 252%. He Xiaopeng, the chairman and CEO of XPeng (9868.HK), said at the Q2 2025 earnings conference call on August 19th: "Starting from the fourth quarter of this year, we will enter a major product cycle with one car having two capabilities." It is reported that XPeng will launch its first extended - range hybrid SUV, the XPeng X9, in the fourth quarter of this year. XPeng will officially enter the extended - range segment from the pure - electric field, initiating a product layout of "one car with two capabilities".

NIO delivered 31,305 new vehicles in August, a year - on - year increase of 55%. Among them, the LeDao brand delivered 16,434 new vehicles in August, a month - on - month increase of 175%. The LeDao L90 delivered 10,575 new vehicles in its first month on the market. In addition, another volume - driving new model, the all - new NIO ES8, will be launched at the NIO DAY in late September. In an approximately 90 - minute internal speech on August 29th, Li Bin, the CEO of NIO, said that the pre - order situation of the all - new ES8 was better than that of the LeDao L90 during the same period, and the previous production plan seemed a bit conservative. Currently, the company is making every effort to increase production capacity.

NIO ES8. Source: NIO's official Weibo

Li Auto delivered 28,529 new vehicles in August. Li Auto revealed that the production of the Li i8, which was launched at the end of July, is accelerating, and it is expected to deliver 8,000 to 10,000 units by the end of September. In September, the Li i6 will be launched, and Li Auto describes it as "the most drivable product among all current models".

On September 1st, Li Xiang, the CEO of Li Auto, posted on Weibo that 2025 is the first year for Li Auto to officially enter the high - end pure - electric SUV market. His internal goal is to "secure the fifth place and strive for the third place" in the high - end pure - electric segment by the end of this year. Li Xiang also revealed the sales targets for each model. The target for the Li i8 is to stabilize at 6,000 units per month after reaching a stable production level; the target for the Li i6 is to stabilize at 9,000 - 10,000 units per month. Including the Li MEGA, the overall stable monthly sales of Li Auto's pure - electric models are expected to reach 18,000 - 20,000 units. Li Xiang also said that there are many strong competitors in the pure - electric segment, and it will definitely be very difficult to achieve this goal, but he is full of confidence.

Xiaomi Auto delivered over 30,000 new vehicles in August. The financial data officially released by Xiaomi shows that Xiaomi's auto business is accelerating towards profitability. In the second quarter of 2025, Xiaomi Group's auto business revenue reached 21.3 billion yuan, accounting for 96.7% of the total revenue of its innovative business. The gross profit margin increased to 26.4%, higher than Tesla's 17.2% during the same period. Although the business still had a loss of 300 million yuan in this quarter, it has significantly narrowed compared with the loss of 1.8 billion yuan in the same period of 2024.

Among the new power brands of traditional automakers, GAC Aion sold 27,044 vehicles in August, a year - on - year decrease of 24%. On August 19th, the extended - range version of the Hyper HL was launched and delivered. Whether the Hyper brand can become popular with its new extended - range model remains to be tested by the market.

VOYAH Zhuiguang L. Source: VOYAH's official Weibo

The Zeekr brand delivered 17,626 new vehicles in August, a slight year - on - year decrease of 2%. VOYAH delivered 13,505 new vehicles in August, a year - on - year increase of 119%. Avatr delivered 10,565 new vehicles in August, a year - on - year increase of 185%. On August 29th, at the 28th Chengdu Auto Show, these three brands all had new models on display, including the Zeekr 9X, the 2026 - model VOYAH Dreamer, the VOYAH Zhuiguang L, and the Avatr 06 Ultra extended - range version. IM Motors delivered 6,108 new vehicles in August, 9 fewer than the same period last year. Its first extended - range model, the all - new IM LS6, will be officially launched on September 10th.

Automobile Enterprises Start to Sprint for the "Golden September and Silver October"

Behind the significant sales growth of many new car - making power enterprises in August, the overall auto market also maintained high popularity. According to the preliminary calculation of the China Passenger Car Association, the total retail sales of narrow - sense passenger vehicles in the domestic market in August this year were approximately 1.94 million units, a month - on - month increase of 6.2% and a year - on - year increase of 2.0%. Among them, the retail sales of new energy vehicles are expected to reach about 1.1 million units, with a penetration rate of 56.7%.

In September, the auto market is about to enter the traditional peak season of "Golden September and Silver October". According to a rough statistics by Time Finance, about 15 new models will be launched this month, including the Shangjie H5, the Xiangjie S9T, the all - new Wenjie M7, the Li i6, the all - new NIO ES8, the Zeekr 9X, the Lynk & Co 10 EM - P, the new - generation IM LS6, the new - generation Changan Eado, the SAIC Audi AUDI E5 Sportback, and the Changan Mazda EZ - 60.

Shangjie H5. Source: Shangjie Auto's official Weibo

On August 29th, the 28th Chengdu Auto Show opened. Data released by the organizers of the Chengdu Auto Show showed that on the first day of this year's Chengdu Auto Show, a total of 61 new - car press conferences were held, and 70 new models made their debuts. Huachuang Securities pointed out that with the start of the new - car cycle at the Chengdu Auto Show, the auto industry is expected to gradually enter the seasonal peak season.

For the upcoming September and the year - end sales sprint period, some automobile enterprises have high hopes and are full of confidence. He Xiaopeng said at the Q2 2025 earnings conference call: "With the delivery of the new P7, the goal is for the company's monthly deliveries to steadily exceed 40,000 units starting from September."

Li Tengfei, the vice - president of Leapmotor, said at the mid - year 2025 earnings conference call that Leapmotor's annual sales target for this year will be raised from the original 500,000 - 600,000 units to 580,000 - 650,000 units.

Looking ahead to the fourth quarter of this year, many new car - making power brands have set profitability targets. He Xiaopeng said at the Q2 2025 earnings conference call: "We are confident that in the fourth quarter, we will not only achieve scale leadership, but also enter a new stage of profitability and self - sufficiency in the company's operation."

In an approximately 90 - minute internal speech on August 29th, Li Bin reiterated the company's goal of achieving profitability in the fourth quarter of this year. Li Bin frankly said in the speech, "Users recognize our cars, services, and technologies, but there are still many people on the sidelines. If we achieve profitability, users' confidence will increase, and many problems will be easily solved."

This article is from the WeChat official account "Time Finance APP" (ID: tf - app). Author: Chen Ziqing. Republished by 36Kr with permission.