How much of the annual KPIs for 2025 of new force car companies remains unfulfilled?

Three quarters of 2025 have passed. Looking at the sales volume in the first three quarters, the varying completion rates of annual sales targets have exposed the different joys and sorrows of automobile manufacturers. Looking back at the KPIs that automobile manufacturers set for themselves at the beginning of the year, how are they doing now? Can they still achieve these goals on schedule?

Recently, the China Automotive Technology and Research Center released the data on the completion rates of the annual targets of major new - energy vehicle startups from January to September this year, clearly presenting the completion status of each brand. We have made a brief statistics, and the situation is as follows:

Among the new - energy vehicle startups, XPeng has quietly taken the lead with a target completion rate of 89.5%. As of September 2025, XPeng's cumulative sales volume reached 313,000 vehicles, exceeding its annual target of 350,000 vehicles. This achievement is attributed to its product strategy of "being refined, being focused, being different, and going global", as well as continuous breakthroughs in the field of intelligent driving. It also has a great deal to do with XPeng's relatively pragmatic target setting.

Leapmotor follows closely with a completion rate of 79.1%, which is not surprising at all. In the first nine months of this year, Leapmotor's cumulative sales volume reached 396,000 vehicles, only 114,000 vehicles short of its annual target of 500,000 vehicles. With the support of a pragmatic target and excellent sales performance, it is really worth looking forward to what kind of report card Leapmotor can present at the end of this year.

In the third place is Xiaomi, which has completed 71.4% of its sales target and has a cumulative sales volume of over 250,000 vehicles. They still have a gap of 100,000 vehicles to reach the target of 350,000 vehicles. Although the Xiaomi YU7 model has received a warm response in the market, capacity ramp - up and supply - chain management remain the key challenges for it to reach the target.

In contrast, NIO, which has a profit target this year, only achieved a completion rate of 45.7% in the first three quarters. Although the sales volume of the LeDao L90 has exceeded 10,000 vehicles and the NIO ES8 has received a warm response after its launch, the overall growth rate is still difficult to support the annual sales target, and NIO's cumulative sales volume has obviously fallen short of expectations. Additionally, Li Auto achieved a completion rate of 46.4%, Zeekr 44.9%, and Hongmeng Zhixing about 34.4%. These brands are all facing problems such as long product iteration cycles, intensified market competition, and overly high annual target setting. Currently, their overall target completion rates are not ideal.

It is worth mentioning that BYD's sales volume from January to September exceeded 3.26 million vehicles, and the completion rate of its 2025 target is about 70.87%. With its strong production and delivery capabilities and supply - chain integration capabilities, BYD uses price - for - volume strategy and has an extremely short delivery cycle. Its sales volume may explode further in the fourth quarter, further squeezing the growth space of new - energy vehicle startups.

So, which automobile manufacturers can still achieve their sales targets on schedule this year? Considering the peak sales season of "Golden September and Silver October", according to the time calculation, automobile manufacturers should have reached about 70% of their targets by now to achieve the sales targets on schedule. If they can exceed 65%, they still have a chance to make a final push. Judging from the data, it is almost a certainty for XPeng and Leapmotor to achieve their targets. As the delivery volume of Xiaomi and BYD continues to increase, they also have a good chance of achieving their targets, while the situation of other automobile manufacturers is relatively less optimistic.

It is said that the automobile industry is extremely competitive this year, which can actually be seen from the sales situation. Compared with this year, the new - energy vehicle startups had a better overall target completion rate in 2024. This year, each automobile manufacturer has raised its sales target to varying degrees. Among them, Leapmotor's sales target in 2025 is twice that in 2024, and Xiaomi's target sales volume has almost tripled. NIO, Li Auto, and XPeng have also made increases to varying degrees, and NIO's sales target this year is almost double that of last year.

Although models such as the NIO ES8 and Li Auto i6 have performed well after their launch, it is still difficult for these models to achieve large - scale delivery in the short term, and they are difficult to shoulder the heavy responsibility of boosting sales. NIO's CEO, Li Bin, previously said that the production volume of the NIO ES8 for this year has been sold out, and the estimated delivery time of the Li Auto i6 is more than 10 weeks. However, as the end of the year approaches, it is still very difficult for them to achieve their expected targets.

With the arrival of the traditional sales peak season of "Golden September and Silver October", the fourth quarter has become a critical period for automobile manufacturers to strive for their targets. Leading enterprises such as BYD and Geely, with their complete product portfolios, advantages in channel expansion, and strong delivery capabilities, may pose a certain impact on new - energy vehicle startups. "Top students" among new - energy vehicle startups such as XPeng and Leapmotor need to optimize their sales strategies to stabilize sales and be down - to - earth; while brands such as NIO and Li Auto need to optimize their delivery processes and accelerate the production and delivery of "blockbuster" models.

In this endless marathon, achieving the annual target is only a stage victory. When the market shifts from "incremental competition" to "stock competition", automobile manufacturers should avoid using "tricks" such as releasing a large number of zero - kilometer used cars to create the illusion of a significant short - term increase in sales volume. This not only damages the healthy competition in the market but also harms the brand reputation and has a negative impact.

Now, the focus of competition among automobile manufacturers has shifted from sales volume to the comprehensive competitiveness of system capabilities, technological strength, and global layout. As Li Shufu, the chairman of Geely Holding Group, said: "The development of the automobile industry must be centered around promoting high - quality development. Don't play tricks or engage in opportunism. Look to the long - term and adhere to long - termism." Only in this way can they navigate steadily in the new - energy wave.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Cheyun" (ID: cheyunwang). Author: QY, Editor: Lu Zhiyao. It is published by 36Kr with authorization.