China exported 582,000 new energy passenger cars in October 2026, up 144.7% year on year and 3.9% month on month, according to data released by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) on November 9. Domestic retail sales of new energy passenger cars reached 1.109 million units in the same month, down 13.7% year on year but up 2.3% month on month.
New energy models accounted for 62.8% of China's passenger car exports in October, 20 percentage points more than a year earlier, with battery-electric vehicles making up 61.7% of NEV exports and plug-in hybrids 33.7%. NEV passenger car exports for January-October totalled 4.472 million units, up 139.7% year on year. On the CPCA's NEV passenger car basis, BYD exported 165,194 units in October, followed by Chery with 83,843, Geely with 80,119 and Tesla China with 59,012.
CPCA secretary-general Cui Dongshu expects China's rapid auto export growth to moderate next year, with overall growth slowing to around 10%: shipments to Russia are stabilising, pressure on the European Union market is rising, and the Middle East could become a new growth relay although uncertainty remains. He said carmakers need to deepen localisation by designing models for local demand, improving dealer and after-sales networks and building local spare-parts systems.