Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
MUNICH, GERMANY – SEPTEMBER 09: Chinese electric car producer BYD presents its (EV) vehicles on the opening day of the IAA MOBILITY 2025 motor show on September 09, 2025 in Munich, Germany. The IAA comes as German automakers are seeing slowing profits and struggling to maintain market share, while Chinese automakers are making strong gains, particularly in electric cars. (Photo by Johannes Simon/Getty Images)
Johannes Simon | Getty Images News | Getty Images
BYD fell sharply in December from a year earlier as it ended a volatile year for Chinese electric vehicles amid an aggressive price war and weak domestic demand.
The company recorded 414,784 deliveries in December, compared to 474,921 in November, according to a report. Friday drop off.
The latest figure brings BYD close to meeting its 2025 sales target, which it lowered by 16% to 4.6 million, in a context of increasingly weakened domestic demand.
The electric vehicle giant also remained the undisputed market leader, delivering over 4.54 million passenger vehicles for 2025, an increase of 6.94% from its 2024 deliveries.
This overshadows Teslarecorded bulk deliveries of 735,274 Model Y and Model 3 vehicles in China between January and Novemberbased on CNBC’s calculation using data from the China Passenger Car Association. December figures have not yet been published.
Affordable models offer an advantage
Electric vehicle startups saw strong growth in 2025, as mass-market models and aggressive pricing increasingly outperformed premium-focused strategies.
Leapmotor has become one of the fastest growing brands, 596,555 deliveries in 2025, exceeding its target for the year. The automaker, which celebrated its 10th anniversary last year, has almost doubled its sales volume compared to 2024 and aims to deliver 1 million electric vehicles in 2026.
Xpeng also recorded a sharp increase, achieving 429,445 sales for the year – a 126% jump from 2024, the company said THURSDAY. The automaker’s deliveries peaked in September and October following the launch of its Mona series in September.
Nio recorded 326,028 car deliveries in 2025, recording a year-on-year increase of 46.9%, the company said in a statement on Thursday. About half of its shipments were attributed to Nio’s premium eponymous brand. The company also said in the statement that it set a record in China for the fastest delivery among electric vehicles priced above 400,000 yuan ($57,172), with its flagship ES8 SUV.
Without specifying its annual delivery numbers, Xiaomi recorded more than 50,000 sales in Decembermarking a new record. According to CNBC calculations from its monthly data, the smartphone maker made more than 380,000 car deliveries in 2025.
Li Auto Bucks Trend
On the other hand, Li Auto delivered 406,343 vehicles for the whole of 2025, marking a sharp decline compared to its record performance in 2024.
The company delivered 44,246 vehicles in December, its first monthly total above 40,000 since May. The latest figure marks a resumption of growth since its sales were hit by a marketing misstep in September, surrounding the launch of its competitively priced Li i8.
Meanwhile, the Huawei-backed Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance – which includes brands such as Aito, Chery and Maextro – recorded strong momentum, with around 589,107 vehicles delivered for 2025, an increase of 32% over one year.
It recorded 89,611 deliveries in December, marking the third consecutive month of monthly delivery records, the company said.
The company did not specify delivery figures for Aito.
