From the end of October to early November
Byd: Sales in October approached 500,000 units, continuing to lead the pack. Geely’s sales exceeded 310,000 yuan in October, while Chery’s were 296,000 yuan. New energy and exports are the main growth points.
Seres (Askui) : Sales in October dropped significantly. The official explanation is that it is a period of product replacement gap. The transitional pressure after the division of labor adjustment between Huawei and Seres is relatively large.
In the first three quarters, the overall growth rate of China’s auto exports was very strong, surging by 65.8% year-on-year. The overseas market of domestic auto manufacturers was one of the largest increments this year.
Batteries and energy replenishment
Catl’s third-generation Shenxing ultra-fast charging battery: Currently, many automakers are vying to be the first to install it. The latest news is that Dongfeng is making every effort to negotiate, aiming to secure the first launch. This battery is advertised as follows: It only takes 3 minutes and 44 seconds to turn from 10% to 80% at the fastest.
Catl also released its “Electricity-to-battery Range Extension” battery swapping solution, with over 10,000 units signed in the first batch. The solution focuses on a battery swapping architecture featuring detachable dual batteries.
Intelligentization, technology
Li Auto: Unveiling a brand-new “Lianshan” electric technology system, focusing on self-developed electric drive and vehicle control, paving the way for subsequent models.
Horizon: The end-to-end autonomous driving project has won the highest Science and Technology Special Prize of the Society of Automotive Engineers of China, which is a very prestigious award in the domestic intelligent driving circle. Nio also won an award for its electric drive project.
Tesla has deepened its cooperation in Wuxi, focusing on the application of intelligent driving and new energy consumption scenarios.
Financial reports, personnel, and updates of automotive companies
Volvo: Suffered a large loss in the third quarter, with a significant decline in the Chinese market. Its share price dropped by nearly 30% in a single day, which is the most closely watched negative news among foreign automakers recently.
Dongfeng Motor: Just announced the adjustment of senior management personnel, and at the same time signed a strategic cooperation agreement with CATL, striving for priority supply of batteries and the implementation of new technologies. The Fengshen L8 has recently been launched, focusing on being a high-performance, intelligent driving family car priced at around 150,000 yuan.
Beijing Hyundai: The new ENeekr V has just been launched, but its sales have been dismal. Soon after, news of a senior executive’s departure emerged, and the pressure on Korean brands in the domestic market continues to increase.
Policies, national standards
New regulations on vehicle lights (end of October) : Red lines have been drawn for modifying small blue lights, customizing light language, and light colors. From now on, many fancy modified lights on vehicles will be non-compliant.
The state continues to support the export of new energy vehicles, and the adjustment of export rebate policies is beneficial to automakers going global.
I. Domestic New Energy Vehicles going Global: Reduce domestic production volume, but boost sales overseas
In a nutshell: This year, the domestic market has shrunk, and the “golden September and Silver October” period has largely failed. Leading automakers have almost entirely relied on overseas sales to balance their sales. In the first three quarters, the national auto export volume reached 8.205 million units, surging by approximately 66% year-on-year.
Core Data (October
Byd: Total sales approached 490,000 units, with 169,600 units sold overseas in a single month, representing a year-on-year increase of 103%. It is only after the overseas increment fills the gap of the domestic decline that overall growth is achieved.
Chery: A total of 296,000 yuan was sold that month, of which 200,600 yuan was exported. Domestic wholesale was less than 100,000 yuan, and overseas sales accounted for nearly 70%.
Saic: 163,000 overseas sales (+67%), but domestic sales have dropped significantly, and overall sales are still falling.
Changan: 102,400 units overseas (+77%), the factory in Brazil has been established, and hundreds of outlets have been set up in Europe. The goal is to reach one million units overseas throughout the year.
Great Wall: Overseas sales have already exceeded half. Among the total sales of 120,000, 62,900 were exported.
Europe is the main battlefield (the Paris Motor Show is a landmark event)
At this year’s Paris Motor Show, about 20 Chinese brands participated, doubling the number from two years ago. From BYD and Geely to XPeng, Li Auto and Avatr, all were present. It was no longer just about setting up exhibition booths, but also about implementing local production, certification and after-sales services.
Xiaopeng: With Magna as the contract manufacturer in Austria, the G9L made its debut in Paris and directly opened up European orders. The average price of overseas bicycles has exceeded 40,000 euros, officially benchmarking against BBA.
Zero Run: Production starts at the Spanish factory and relies on Stellantis’ distribution channels to rapidly expand sales. At the same time, the entry-level compact car B03 and the high-end D19 were released, catering to both upper and lower market demands.
AITO (Seres) : On 6/7/8/9, AITO has initiated the EU certification process and officially announced its entry into Europe in the autumn of 2027. This news was also the trigger for its recent sharp increase in stock price.
Ideal: It is planned that the Li 6 will be first introduced to Norway and the Netherlands in Q1 2027, and then gradually rolled out.
Byd’s factory in Hungary is expected to go into production in the fourth quarter of this year to avoid EU tariffs. Meanwhile, the construction of a factory in France is also under assessment.
The pain points of going global now
Tariff barriers: The EU imposes additional tariffs on pure electric vehicles. As a result, plug-in hybrids and range-extended models have become easier routes to achieve high sales volume. China and Europe have recently reached a trade consensus, leaving some room for the export of hybrid vehicles.
2. The cost of localization is very high: It’s not simply about transporting domestic vehicles there. Regulations need to be modified, lighting systems changed, emissions modified, after-sales services established, residual value of second-hand vehicles maintained, and insurance systems established. The investment is huge.
3. Quality risk: A typical example is Chery’s recall in Malaysia. The rear axle issue of the OMODA 5 led to a recall of nearly 9,000 vehicles. The local authorities once suspended the registration of new vehicles. Once the scale expands, the pressure on overseas supply chains and quality control will increase.
4. Intensified competition: European domestic brands are preparing a large number of low-priced electric vehicles, which will squeeze the space for domestic low-priced and high-volume sales.
A simple summary: Going global is no longer an added bonus; it’s now a survival factor. Only those who can build factories and provide after-sales services can stand firm in the long term. It will become increasingly difficult for those who only sell cars by sea in the future.
Ii. Latest Developments in Intelligent Driving: End-to-end Becomes the main thread
This year’s major direction: In China, the focus is no longer solely on building lidars, but rather on “end-to-end models, integration of cabin and driving, and popularization of urban NOA”. Horizon Robotics, Li Auto, and Tesla are the three most representative routes.
Horizon Robotics (the largest intelligent driving solution provider in China
• HSD V2.1: It has been the hottest recently. Its core highlight is the mass-production-level, end-to-end full-scenario autonomous reversing. It and Tesla’s FSD are currently the only two solutions that can achieve this. Different from the traditional “reverse tracking” : It does not retreat along the original path but makes real-time judgments on the space behind, oncoming vehicles, and obstacles, and decides for itself whether to retreat, how much to retreat, and when to return to the right position. When a narrow road is blocked, it can independently get out of the predicament.
It won the highest Science and Technology Special Prize of the Society of Automotive Engineers of China, which is a highly prestigious award in the domestic intelligent driving circle.
A large number of car manufacturers are using it: The new ID.ERA 5X of SAIC Volkswagen is equipped with the Journey 6H, with a computing power of 420TOPS and a 192-line lidar. Many new models from domestic brands and joint ventures are also implementing this solution.
Positioning: Delivering chips and software in a package to automakers, it is equivalent to a domestic “supplier” of intelligent driving. It has cooperated with Li Auto, AvatR, SAIC, and Geely.
Li Auto
The “Lianshan Electric Technology System” has just been released. It is not merely about intelligent driving; it is a complete set of self-developed electric drive, vehicle control, battery management, and intelligent driving integrated platform, laying the foundation for the next generation of models.
External statement: In domestic scenarios, the company’s own intelligent driving experience is already superior to the current version of Tesla’s FSD. The goal is that by the end of this year, the NOA of domestic cities will approach the level of the US version of FSD.
The difference from Tesla’s route: The ideal is “emphasizing domestic road conditions, engineering implementation, and human-machine connection friendliness”, prioritizing stability in high-frequency domestic scenarios such as urban commuting, island circling, and unprotected left turns.
Here at Tesla
There is still no timetable for FSD’s entry into China. Musk admitted at the earnings call that domestic Chinese automakers are highly competitive and they are still in continuous communication with regulators to strive for approval.
In Europe: Germany requires that it cannot be called “fully autonomous Driving”, but be renamed TAD (Tesla Assisted Driving) to avoid misleading publicity. Latvia has just approved the supervision version of FSD to be on the road in the country.
In the United States, Robotaxi: The service area of unmanned ride-hailing services in Houston has been expanded, but it is still limited to certain areas and has geographical fences. It is not allowed to run freely throughout the city. The unsupervised version of FSD has been further postponed and is expected to be released in the second quarter of next year.
Common changes in the industry
Nowadays, the proportion of new cars equipped with intelligent driving as standard is quite high: this year, for every 10 new cars sold in China, approximately 7 are equipped with assisted driving. However, there is a huge gap between “usable” and “user-friendly”.
Route differentiation: Tesla takes pure vision; Horizon, Ideal, and XPeng are a fusion of liDAR and vision. More and more car manufacturers are developing their own models and no longer rely entirely on purchased solutions.
Important reminder: All of these currently fall under assisted driving, not autonomous driving. The driver must take over at any time.
Iii. Recent Major New Models (Late October – Early November)
Choose the ones with the highest popularity and clear positioning, and separate them by price and type:
Household sales volume (100,000-180,000)
Xiaopeng Mona L05: Starting from 139,800 yuan, available in extended-range and pure electric versions; The extended-range combined range is 1,310 km, and the pure electric version has a range of 635 km. It is targeted at young family users, and its workmanship is comparable to that of the G7.
Roewe Jiayue 07:11.98-144,800 yuan, with an extended range. The low-end model does not come with lidar to lower the threshold, while the high-end model is equipped with advanced intelligent driving. It focuses on large space for family use.
Pentium Pony Five-door Edition: Added 328 km range, equipped with CATL battery, 400 V, suitable for urban commuting.
Byd’s all-new Qin PLUS: Upgraded generation, with the option to install the God’s Eye B Intelligent Driving System.
Mid-to-high-end (200,000-350,000 yuan
Ideal i6 (facelift) : Interior and exterior design optimization, equipped with Ideal’s self-developed battery, it represents an annual upgrade for the main volumetric model.
The pure electric version of the IM LS8 Neo: Equipped with a full range of CATL batteries, an 800V high-voltage platform, and a line-controlled chassis, it is priced lower and focuses on a cost-effective mid-to-large-sized pure electric SUV.
Wey Mountain 8HEV: 2.0T four-wheel drive hybrid MPV, standard equipped with Lidar, suitable for both family and business use.
The Lynk & Co 08 EMP: A plug-in hybrid, it is currently the high-end family car model that Lynk & Co focuses on selling in large quantities.
High-end flagship/hardcore
The all-new NIO ES8: NIO’s flagship large SUV, equipped with a battery swap system, makes a static debut and serves as a benchmark for high-end pure electric vehicles.
Fangcheng Leopard Titanium 9: A large and tough SUV, the sixth-generation DM-i, with a pure electric range of 310 km, over 1,600 km on a full tank of fuel and a full charge, and standard equipped with the God’s Eye B5.0.
The new generation of the Denza N8 and the all-new executive sedan from YOYO: BYD’s high-end line, focusing on luxury and high performance.
It’s coming soon and worth waiting for
Saic Volkswagen ID.ERA 5X (November 12th) : Volkswagen’s all-new pure electric platform, Horizon Journey 6H, 192-line Lidar, and battery from CATL, is Volkswagen’s most significant new pure electric vehicle in the past two years.
Geely Galaxy Starlight 6EF: Multi-energy hybrid, capable of burning methanol, gasoline and electricity together, which is a rather unique technical route.
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Post time: Nov-03-2026