The Big Picture
BYD: 419,211 vehicles, +21.8% YoY. 62nd consecutive month as China’s #1 NEV brand. Overseas sales hit a record 179,841 units — 43% of total volume.
Leapmotor: 101,267 deliveries, +102% YoY. First new-force brand ever to crack 100K in a month. Six years from 879 units to six figures.
Li Auto: 30,468 deliveries — the only major new-force brand to post a year-on-year and month-on-month decline. Three consecutive months of contraction.
Zeekr + NIO: Both at all-time highs. Zeekr +111% to 35,837. NIO +71% to 35,934 across three brands.
The Full Scoreboard
| Brand | July Deliveries | YoY | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| BYD (Group) | 419,211 | +21.8% | 62nd month at #1; overseas 179,841 (record) |
| Leapmotor | 101,267 | +102% | First 100K+ month for a new-force brand |
| Huawei HIMA | 45,046 | — | Cumulative 1.48M+ |
| XPeng | 38,027 | +3.6% | Global 1.2M+ cumulative; MONA L03 ramp |
| NIO | 35,934 | +71% | NIO 20,008 / Onvo 10,155 / Firefly 5,771 |
| Zeekr | 35,837 | +111% | All-time high |
| Li Auto | 30,468 | Decline | 3rd month of decline |
| Xiaomi | 30,000+ | — | 4th month above 30K |
| Deepal | 29,213 | +7.5% | Cumulative 910K+ |
| BAIC NEV | 25,074 | +121% | Stelato G9 Aug 5 presale |
BYD: 419K and Still Pulling Away
BYD’s July numbers dwarf every other Chinese automaker. The group delivered 419,211 vehicles, up 21.8% year-on-year — its 62nd consecutive month as China’s top NEV seller. January through July, cumulative sales reached 2,227,722 units. The company’s 1,700 millionth NEV rolled off the line in July, a milestone no other automaker has reached.
The brand breakdown tells a structural story. BYD’s mass-market Wangchao (Dynasty) and Haiyang (Ocean) networks sold 350,178 units — the base, growing 11.1% YoY. The flagship Tang SUV (D-segment) crossed 10,000 deliveries on July 23, its first month of volume production. Song, Yuan, Qin, Seal, Sea Lion, Dolphin, and Seagull continue to blanket the mainstream market.
The growth engine is shifting upward. BYD’s three premium brands — Fang Cheng Bao, Denza, and Yangwang — combined for over 60,000 units, up roughly 135% YoY and accounting for 14.8% of passenger vehicle sales. Fang Cheng Bao alone delivered 41,213 units (+190.6% YoY), with an average transaction price above ¥223,000 ($31,000). Denza sold 19,196 (+68.8%); Yangwang delivered 485 (+43.1%).
But the most consequential number is overseas. BYD exported 179,841 passenger vehicles and pickups in July, up 124.3% YoY and a new all-time high. Overseas volume now represents over 43% of total sales. Cumulative overseas deliveries through July reached 969,208 — within striking distance of one million for the year. The company’s overseas brand restructuring and export strategy are no longer aspirational — they are the primary growth driver.
Leapmotor: 879 to 100,000 in Six Years
The number that rewrites the record books: 101,267. Leapmotor became the first Chinese new-force EV brand to deliver more than 100,000 vehicles in a single month. The trajectory tells the story: 32,059 in January, 50,029 in March, 71,387 in April, 93,376 in June, and now six figures. Founder and CEO Zhu Jiangming, in his monthly wrap-up video: “From 879 units a month to 100,000 — we’ve walked six years for this. Things we didn’t dare imagine are now real. This isn’t the finish line. It’s a new starting line.”
The math behind the number: Leapmotor’s portfolio now spans four product lines — A, B, C, D — covering ¥60,000 to ¥300,000. The A10 compact alone delivers nearly 30,000 units a month. The C10 is a global seller with 10,000+ monthly. B-series crossed 20,000 in July. The D19, a ¥300,000+ MPV, just started deliveries. The full-range strategy is working: Leapmotor isn’t winning one segment; it’s winning several at once.
August will bring the new A05 model. September is the annual Tech Day, where Zhu promises a breakthrough on the company’s World Model autonomous driving system.
Li Auto: Three Months of Decline
Li Auto delivered 30,468 units in July — the only major new-force brand to post a year-on-year and month-on-month decline for the third consecutive month. The company is still its segment’s dominant player, but the tailwinds that carried it through 2024 and 2025 have shifted. EREV wholesale volumes fell 13.1% in H1 2026. The new L6 launched in July, and Li Xiang expects cumulative L6 deliveries to cross 400,000 by August — but the L6 is winning on price competitiveness, not premium positioning.
The pressure is about to intensify. Xiaomi’s Pengcheng EREV SUVs — the N70 Max (4,960mm five-seater) and N90 Max (5,285mm seven-seater) — opened presales on July 29 and launch in September. The N70 goes directly after L6 territory; the N90 targets L9. Both enter a segment where Li Auto is already losing altitude.
NIO: Three Brands, All Growing
NIO’s 35,934 July deliveries (+71% YoY) broke down cleanly: the NIO brand at 20,008 (+58%), Onvo at 10,155 (+70%), and Firefly at 5,771 (+144%). All three brands posted record cumulative deliveries for the January-July period. NIO also became the only Chinese automaker named to TIME’s 2026 World’s Most Sustainable Companies list — a significant signal for a brand working to establish a premium identity globally. Li Bin confirmed the new ES8 will debut in late August on the NT3.0 platform, with a September NIO Day formal launch.
Zeekr: +111% to a New Record
35,837 deliveries, all-time high, +111% YoY. The 9X and 8X hybrid models continue to drive volume, while the 7X and 001 shooting brake both delivered 10,000+ globally. Third-party survey data now places Zeekr firmly in the luxury premium bracket, a positioning that its July cross-border software incident didn’t dent. Average transaction price remains above ¥530,000 — higher than most German luxury brands in China.
XPeng: Flat but Stable, Overseas Picking Up
38,027 deliveries (+3.6% YoY), essentially flat. The company attributed the slight dip to model transition — the MONA L03 was completing its global launch cycle and the new GX was in early production ramp. The overseas business continues to accelerate: cumulative overseas deliveries crossed 100,000 in July after six years, and the P7+ just began mass overseas shipments. CEO He Xiaopeng’s target of 90,000+ overseas deliveries in 2026 remains on track.
Xiaomi: 30K+ for the Fourth Month
Xiaomi delivered 30,000+ vehicles for the fourth consecutive month, maintaining its post-SU7 launch plateau. The SU7 and YU7 continue to sell at a steady clip — not growing dramatically, but not declining either. The real growth driver for Xiaomi’s auto division is now the Pengcheng EREV SUVs, which opened presales on July 29 and target the September launch window. Xiaomi’s auto business is transitioning from a single-hit-product story to a multi-lineup manufacturer — and the delivery volumes through September will tell us if the transition is working.
BYD delivered 419,211 vehicles in July — nearly four times the next-largest Chinese EV maker — with overseas sales hitting a record 43% of total volume. Leapmotor became the first new-force brand to cross 100,000 in a single month. Li Auto fell for the third consecutive month as the EREV segment contracts and Xiaomi’s Pengcheng SUVs prepare to enter. The market is bifurcating: BYD and the mass-market brands are scaling, premium brands are fighting to hold altitude, and the middle is getting squeezed.
Sources & Further Reading
- Hubei Daily — “BYD July Sales: 419K, +21.8% YoY” (August 1, 2026)
- Gasgoo — “BYD July Sales Break 419K, Overseas at Record High” (August 2, 2026)
- CLS / Caixin — “July New-Force Delivery Rankings: Leapmotor Breaks 100K” (August 1, 2026)
- Shenzhen Business Daily — “July Delivery Data: Full Brand Breakdown” (August 1, 2026)
- TechWeb — “Leapmotor July: 101,267, +102% YoY” (August 1, 2026)
- Weibo — “July Delivery Data: Multi-Brand Roundup” (August 1, 2026)
