China's passenger car market retailed 1.643 million vehicles in October 2026, down 27.1% year on year but up 1.5% month on month, while cumulative retail sales for January-October reached 14.978 million units, down 22.3%, according to data released by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) on November 9.
Combustion-engine models bore the brunt: retail sales of conventional fuel passenger cars came to 530,000 units in October, down 45% year on year, with pure petrol models down 51% while conventional hybrids rose 28%. NEV passenger car retail sales reached 1.109 million units, down 13.7% year on year but up 2.3% month on month, and the retail penetration rate hit 67.5%, 10.5 percentage points higher than a year earlier; cumulative NEV retail sales for January-October were 8.869 million units, down 12.9%.
At the manufacturer level, 23 companies wholesaled more than 10,000 NEVs in October, led by BYD with 482,610 units, Geely with 211,240, Chery with 133,890, Leapmotor with 103,025 and Changan with 99,494.