All the new energy vehicle startups that had strong sales in August have one thing in common.
Recently, car companies have successively announced their sales results for August. Among traditional car companies, BYD's growth rate has slowed down, and SAIC Group lags behind BYD by about 10,000 vehicles. Among new - force car companies, Li Auto has dropped out of the first echelon. NIO, which has long been in the middle - tier, is moving towards the top with the help of its sub - brands.
NIO Overtakes Li Auto
Compared with July, the market performance of new - force car companies in August changed more significantly than that of traditional car companies. However, the top - ranked car companies in the new - force and traditional rankings remained unchanged.
Sales performance of some new - force car companies in August. Charted by Gong Chenyuan of China New Economy Observation
Leapmotor still leads the new - force car companies. Xiaomi Auto also maintained its performance of exceeding 30,000 vehicles. NIO and Li Auto swapped positions. The former entered the 30,000 - vehicle club, while the latter fell below 30,000 vehicles.
These car companies with good market performance have two common points: they all have popular models and have made achievements in the sinking and segmented markets.
What is a popular model? "If a new car can achieve sales of over 10,000 units in the first few months after its launch and maintain stable sales subsequently, it can be called a popular or hit car," Zhang Hong, a member of the Expert Committee of the China Automobile Dealers Association, once told China New Economy Observation. If the monthly sales of a new car can stably exceed 10,000 units, its annual sales will exceed 100,000 units, which can further reflect the product's position in the market.
Leapmotor's sales in August reached 57,100 units, setting a new historical high. Currently, the main product price range is between 100,000 and 200,000 yuan. Among them, the C - series models were launched earlier, and most are in the price range of 150,000 - 200,000 yuan; the B - series models were launched this year and are in the price range of 100,000 - 150,000 yuan.
According to the data officially disclosed by Leapmotor, the B - series models have provided great assistance in boosting sales. Since the first B - series model, the B10, was launched in April, its sales have exceeded 50,000 units in five months. The official guiding price of the second B - series model, the B01, is between 89,800 and 149,700 yuan. It was launched at the end of July, and its single - vehicle sales exceeded 10,000 units in August.
Leapmotor has high hopes for this series of models. Cao Li, the senior vice - president of Leapmotor, said at the Chengdu Auto Show at the end of August that the B - series represents the largest market in terms of sales volume. Whether it is the target of 600,000 units this year or 1 million units next year, the B and C series will be the main contributors to sales.
He also mentioned that if the goal is set at 1 million units next year, Leapmotor needs to achieve monthly sales of 80,000 - 100,000 units. If there are three models in the B - series, the monthly sales of this series should exceed 40,000 units. This means that each B - series model needs to maintain monthly sales of 10,000 units, following the path of popular models.
File photo. Taken by China New Economy Observation
XPeng Motors also set a new high in sales in August, reaching 37,700 units. Among them, the MONA M03, with a price range of 119,800 - 139,800 yuan, accounted for nearly 40% of the total sales, reaching 15,000 units. XPeng Motors' official account recently posted that since the launch of XPeng MONA, the total deliveries have exceeded 160,000 units, with monthly deliveries exceeding 10,000 units, continuously refreshing the records of the A - class pure - electric sedan market.
Similar to Leapmotor and XPeng, NIO also relied on models targeting the sinking market to cross the 30,000 - vehicle threshold for the first time, reaching 31,300 units. Both the year - on - year and month - on - month growth rates were around 50%, and its sales exceeded those of Xiaomi Auto and Li Auto.
In the sales composition of NIO, the high - end luxury NIO brand sold 10,500 units, the LeDao brand, targeting family cars and the mass market, sold 16,400 units, and the firefly brand, targeting high - end small cars, sold 4,346 units.
Among them, the delivery volume of the LeDao L90 reached 10,600 units in August, accounting for 33.9% of NIO's total sales. The vehicle started delivery on August 1st. It is a large pure - electric SUV with an official starting price of 265,800 yuan and a rental - battery version starting at 179,800 yuan, with the price dropping below 200,000 yuan.
On September 2nd, Li Bin, the founder, chairman, and CEO of NIO, said at the Q2 2025 earnings conference call that the order situation of the LeDao L90 exceeded expectations. Currently, NIO is working with its supply - chain partners to further increase production capacity to meet market demand as soon as possible.
In late August, the new NIO ES8 started pre - sales. Qin Lihong, the president of NIO, said the day after the press conference that if calculated by the hour, the order volume of the new ES8 has exceeded that of the LeDao L90 last month. This means that NIO will need to address the issues of production - capacity ramping up and delivery for both the NIO ES8 and the LeDao L90 in the coming period.
In addition, in the sales composition of Xiaomi Auto and AITO in August, some models performed outstandingly.
Li Auto's sales in August were 28,500 units, a year - on - year decline of 40%. The market performance of the new Li Auto i8 fell short of expectations. It is Li Auto's first pure - electric SUV and was launched at the end of July. On August 13th, Li Xiang, the CEO of Li Auto, posted on social media that the goal for the Li Auto i8 in September is to exceed 8,000 units in deliveries and strive for 10,000 units. Half a month later, he lowered the target for this vehicle.
On September 1st, Li Xiang posted: "2025 is the first year for Li Auto to officially enter the pure - electric SUV market. The goal by the end of this year is to'secure the fifth place and strive for the third place' in the high - end pure - electric segment. The target for the Li Auto i8 is to stabilize at 6,000 units per month, and the target for the Li Auto i6 is to stabilize at 9,000 - 10,000 units per month."
SAIC Group's Sales Approach BYD's
Compared with new - force car companies, the sales performance and rankings of traditional car companies in August were more stable. Both year - on - year and month - on - month sales in August showed positive growth, and new - energy vehicles were the main driving force for growth. The China Passenger Car Association estimates that the retail penetration rate of the new - energy passenger - vehicle market in China in August will reach 56.7%, a year - on - year increase of 12 percentage points.
In terms of rankings, BYD, SAIC Group, and FAW Group remained in the top three positions. Among them, SAIC Group's sales approached those of BYD, with a difference of 10,000 units between them. Chery Group once again surpassed Changan Automobile after July, and the sales gap in the first eight months further narrowed.
Sales performance of some traditional car companies in August. Charted by Gong Chenyuan of China New Economy Observation
BYD's sales in August were 373,600 units, more than 500 units higher than the same period last year. By brand, the Dynasty and Ocean networks saw a year - on - year decline of 3.6%, while other brands such as Fang Cheng Bao, Denza, and Yangwang achieved growth in both aspects. Judging from recent performance, since the second quarter, BYD's monthly sales growth rate has significantly slowed down, and the cumulative sales of the Dynasty and Ocean networks, which are the main contributors, have also declined significantly.
Data from the China Passenger Car Association shows that the year - on - year sales decline of the main models in the Dynasty network, such as the Qin PLUS, Qin L, and Song PLUS, exceeded double - digits in the first seven months. The main models in the Ocean network, such as the Seagull and Dolphin, also showed varying degrees of decline, although the year - on - year growth of the Seal 06 doubled.
The price ranges of the main models in BYD's Dynasty and Ocean networks are concentrated between 50,000 and 150,000 yuan. In this price range, models such as the Geely Xingyuan, Leapmotor C10, and Galaxy Xingjian 7 EM - i have performed outstandingly, with year - on - year growth of double or even several times in the first seven months. Among them, the Geely Xingyuan's sales exceeded those of the Tesla Model Y and the BYD Seagull, ranking first in the sales of passenger cars in China in the first seven months.
SAIC Group and Geely Automobile are making strenuous efforts to catch up, with significant year - on - year growth. SAIC Group's sales in August were 363,400 units, a year - on - year increase of 41%. The main growth drivers were SAIC Passenger Vehicles and SAIC - GM - Wuling. Geely Automobile's sales in August were 250,200 units, a year - on - year increase of 38%. The main growth driver was the Geely Galaxy sub - brand.
It is worth noting that the new - energy models with a relatively high sales proportion under SAIC Passenger Vehicles, SAIC - GM - Wuling, and Geely Galaxy are in direct competition with BYD's main models.
Chery Group, in the middle - tier, is continuously narrowing the sales gap with Changan Automobile. Its sales in August were 242,700 units, a year - on - year increase of 14.6%. This was the fifth time this year that its monthly sales exceeded those of Changan Automobile. Its cumulative sales in the first eight months were 70,000 units lower than those of Changan Automobile, compared with nearly 100,000 units in the first half of the year.
Judging from its performance in August, Chery Group's overseas business made an important contribution. It exported 129,500 vehicles in August, a year - on - year increase of 32.3%, and its exports have exceeded 100,000 units for four consecutive months. Chery posted on social media that as of the end of August 2025, the cumulative number of Chery's overseas users has exceeded 5.3 million, and the market focus has shifted to emerging markets such as Mexico and the Middle East.
It is worth noting that Great Wall Motor's sales in August were 115,600 units, and for the first time this year, both year - on - year and month - on - month growth rates achieved double - digit growth. By brand, the new models launched by Haval New Energy and Wei Brand New Energy this year have shown significant improvements in market performance. For example, in late August, the 2026 Haval Menglong was launched, and its orders exceeded 21,000 units within 24 hours of its launch.
The China Automobile Dealers Association posted at the end of August that the overall automotive market remained stable in August. With the release of the rigid demand for car purchases during the back - to - school season, promotional activities such as the 818 Car - Buying Festival, and the successive launches of auto shows in many places such as Chengdu, there was a certain boost to terminal sales.
The China Automobile Dealers Association believes that September will enter the traditional peak season of "Golden September and Silver October." Coupled with the full implementation of national subsidies and the intensive follow - up of local car - purchase subsidies, consumers' wait - and - see attitude is expected to be alleviated more quickly. Combining the recovery momentum accumulated in the second half of August, it is expected that the market performance in September will be better than that in August, and the terminal retail sales of passenger cars will achieve month - on - month growth.
This article is from the WeChat official account "China New Economy Observation" (ID: jwview). Author: Gong Chenyuan, Editor: Li Xiaoxuan. Republished by 36Kr with permission.