BYD leads, Xiaomi rises as Tesla drops out of top 10 car brands in China
Tesla has dropped out of China's top 10 NEV brands, according to the latest retail figures from the CPCA passenger car association. The brand sold 8,817 New Energy Vehicles (NEVs), a category covering EVs and plug-in hybrids, in October 2026. China was the world's largest car market in 2025, with 23.9 million passenger cars sold. Tesla had ranked fourth in September. By comparison, Nio recorded 34,030 sales and Li Auto sold 27,018 vehicles.
BYD leads with 250,301 NEV sales and a 22.4% market share, followed by Geely with 131,708 sales and an 11.8% share. Leapmotor ranks third with 83,573 NEVs. Xiaomi Auto climbed from ninth to sixth with 50,123 sales. Its 25.3% increase over September was the strongest monthly growth among the top 10 NEV brands, while sales rose 3.0% year over year.
Tesla also lost ground in the sales rankings for the first ten months of the year, slipping from fifth to seventh. It sold 389,905 NEVs in China from January through October, down 15.0% from the same period last year. Xiaomi returned to the top 10 with 336,613 sales, while BYD led the rankings with 1.945 million NEVs. Tesla had also dropped out of the top 10 in an EV innovation ranking in October, falling from sixth to 11th in the long-term standings.
China's overall passenger car market contracted 27.1% year over year in October to 1,643,000 sales. NEV sales also fell 13.7% to 1,109,000, but their share of passenger car retail sales still reached a record 67.5%. EVs and plug-in hybrids now account for a larger share of China's car market than ever, even as sales volumes remain below last year's levels.
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