China’s Passenger Car Association (CPCA) ranked BYD first in September NEV retail sales, with 246,816 vehicles and a 22.8% market share. Sales were down 28.9% year on year but up 5.5% from August; its share eased from 23.3% the previous month. Geely placed second with 119,682 vehicles and 11.0%, while Leapmotor was third with 78,202 and 7.2%.
Tesla China rose two places from August to fourth, selling 64,837 vehicles. Its 6.0% share was up from 5.0% a month earlier, although sales remained 9.4% below September 2025. Changan ranked fifth, followed by SAIC-GM-Wuling and Chery. SAIC Passenger Vehicle returned to the top 10 in eighth place, and Xiaomi Auto re-entered in ninth. Li Auto and Nio, which had made the August top 10, dropped out. Only Leapmotor and SAIC Passenger Vehicle among September’s ten leaders recorded year-on-year growth.
For January through September, BYD led with 1,695,099 NEVs, down 33.3% year on year, and a 21.8% share. Geely was second; Leapmotor moved ahead of Changan into third, while Tesla ranked fifth. Nio and Li Auto remained in the cumulative top 10 despite missing September’s list.
Across China’s passenger-car market, September retail sales totaled 1.618 million, down 28.0% year on year. NEVs made up a record 67.0% of sales. The CPCA said the traditionally strong September selling season came in below expectations, with fuel-car retail sales nearly halved.