China's Auto Production and Sales Hit Record High for 17 Consecutive Years [SMM Special Report]

Regarding power batteries,

from January to December, cumulative sales of China's power and ESS batteries reached 1,700.5 GWh, up 63.6% YoY.

In December, sales of China's power and ESS batteries were 199.3 GWh,up 11.1% MoM and 57.5% YoY.Among these, power battery sales were 143.8 GWh, accounting for 72.1% of total sales, up 7.3% MoM and 49.2% YoY; ESS battery sales were 55.6 GWh, accounting for 27.9% of total sales, up 22.4% MoM and 84.0% YoY.

From January to December, cumulative sales of China's power and ESS batteries were 1,700.5 GWh,up 63.6% YoY.Among these, cumulative power battery sales were 1,200.9 GWh, accounting for 70.6% of total sales, up 51.8% YoY; cumulative ESS battery sales were 499.6 GWh, accounting for 29.4% of total sales, up 101.3% YoY.

From January to December, cumulative domestic power battery installations were 769.7 GWh, up 40.4% YoY.

2025 Auto Market Wraps Up Successfully! BYD Overtakes Tesla for the First Time to Become Global Pure EV Sales Champion; Multiple New Automakers Achieve Sales Targets

Following major automakers successively releasing their December 2025 sales data, the 2025 auto market successfully concluded. The chart below, compiled by a Cailian Press reporter, shows the sales figures for December 2025 and the full year 2025 for 14 A/H-share listed automakers, as follows:

In December 2025, domestic EV leader BYD led with sales of 420,398 units, down approximately 18.2% YoY; its cumulative sales for 2025 exceeded 4.602 million units, up 7.73% YoY. Among these, pure EV sales reached 2.257 million units, up 27.86% YoY, allowing BYD to overtake Tesla for the first time and become the global pure EV sales champion; cumulative plug-in hybrid sales were 2.289 million units, down 7.91% YoY.Previously, BYD had set a 2025 sales target of 4.6 million units, which it has now exceeded.

For the full year, Tesla's global cumulative deliveries in 2025 were 1.64 million units, a pullback from 1.79 million units in 2024. According to Reuters, Tesla's sales decline in 2025 was mainly due to intensified market competition, the expiration of U.S. EV tax credits, and weakened demand from brand image issues.

Entering the new year, BYD continues its push, launching new variants of the 2026 BYD Qin L DM-i and Qin PLUS DM-i, with the 2026 Qin L DM-i offering a limited-time NEV purchase tax subsidy, starting at a subsidized price of 92,800 yuan.

SAIC followed BYD with sales of 4.507 million units, up 12.32% YoY, showing a significant rebound. Its NEV transition, upgrades of proprietary brands, and overseas market expansion were cited as three key drivers for this sales growth.

Among new automakers, Leapmotor emerged as the final "winner" of 2025 among new automakers. Since March 2025, its sales consistently ranked first among new automakers, achieving nine consecutive months of leading monthly sales and exceeding 70,000 units for two consecutive months, with full-year deliveries of 597,000 units, up 103.1% YoY, setting a new annual sales record for new automakers.

It is worth mentioning that Leap Motor previously set a sales target of 500,000 units for 2025,and as early as November 15, it had already achieved this target ahead of schedule, 45 days early.Leap Motor Chairman Zhu Jiangming set a higher goal for 2026, aiming to reach 1 million units.

In December 2025, NIO ranked second among new automakers with 48,135 units, up 42.11% YoY; for the full year 2025, it achieved total sales of 326,000 units, up 46.88% YoY. It is reported that NIO's previously set sales target was 440,000 units, with a final achievement rate of 74.1%. NIO Chairman Li Bin stated that the company's sales target for 2026 is to maintain steady growth at a rate of 40%-50% and improve the quality of growth. With NIO's cumulative sales of approximately 326,000 units in 2025, its sales target for 2026 is calculated to be 456,000-489,000 units.

Moreover, Li Bin mentioned during the Q3 2025 earnings call that the company's operational goal for 2026 is to achieve full-year profitability. He also noted that the halved purchase tax on NEVs in 2026 would have a relatively small impact on NIO, "because the battery price deducted under the BaaS leasing scheme is not included in the tax base, which gives us some relative advantage. As for how to respond to market changes next year, we will adopt flexible strategies based on the overall market situation."

XPeng Motors ranked third in the 2025 sales ranking among new automakers, with full-year deliveries of 429,000 units, up 125.94% YoY; in December 2025, it delivered 37,508 new units, up 2.22% YoY.It is reported that XPeng Motors' previously set sales target for 2025 was 380,000 units, and it also achieved its annual sales target ahead of schedule in November 2025.

Entering 2026, XPeng Motors is also going all out. On January 8, XPeng Motors launched four new models. XPeng Motors CEO He Xiaopeng stated at the launch event that all four new models would be equipped with the company's second-generation VLA (Vision-Language-Action) large model. He Xiaopeng claimed that this is the industry's first physical world large model capable of initial L4-level functionality. In 2026, XPeng will see the implementation and mass production of physical AI, begin operating Robotaxi, and mass-produce humanoid robots and flying cars.

Li Auto delivered a total of 406,000 new units in 2025, with a slight decline YoY; in December 2025, it delivered 44,246 new units, down 22.38% YoY. It is reported that Li Auto's previous sales target was 640,000 units, with a final achievement rate of 63.44%.

On January 9, Li Auto i8 launched a limited-time financial policy featuring "0 interest" and "0 down payment"! Users who lock in orders for the Li Auto i8 from now until January 31 (inclusive) can enjoy a 3-year zero-interest policy, saving up to 18,000 yuan in interest; the down payment starts from 99,800 yuan, with daily payments as low as 220 yuan.

In addition, Li Auto Supercharging Stations provided over 19.53 million charging sessions to all users in 2025, including over 8.71 million sessions for Li Auto users. In 2025, the number of Li Auto supercharging piles grew from over 9,000 at the beginning of the year to over 20,000, and the number of stations increased from over 1,700 to over 3,900.

Xiaomi Auto delivered over 50,000 units in December. Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun previously stated that Xiaomi delivered a total of 410,000 vehicles in 2025,exceeding its annual sales target of 350,000 units set at the beginning of the year as early as November.On January 3, 2026, Lei Jun mentioned that he will devote more effort to the automotive business this year. The delivery target, set neither too high nor too low, is 550,000 units, with the hope of surpassing this figure by the end of 2026.

On January 1, 2026, Xiaomi Auto's official Weibo account announced that customers who place orders before 24:00 on February 28 can enjoy a "3-year zero interest" policy across the entire Xiaomi YU7 series, with a down payment starting from 74,900 yuan and monthly payments as low as 4,961 yuan.

Looking ahead to the passenger vehicle market in January 2026, the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) predicts that there will be 20 working days in January 2026, one more than the same period last year but three fewer than the 20 working days in December. Since the 2026 Chinese New Year falls on February 16, and considering the early holiday period last year, production and sales time in January this year is relatively ample.

Additionally, it was mentioned that the national vehicle retirement and renewal policy and various local trade-in policies implemented in 2025 to stimulate auto consumption have achieved good results, but the retail growth rate of passenger vehicles turned negative in Q4, contracting by 5%. Some consumers' wait-and-see sentiment towards car purchases intensified towards the year-end, but this also accumulated some momentum for the auto market at the beginning of 2026. Although the subsidy intensity of the 2026 trade-in policy will be gradually reduced, it started earlier compared to last year. Overall, this is conducive to stabilizing consumption expectations and achieving a "good start" in January. Achieving a "good start" in January has been a goal pursued by local governments and automakers for many years. Combined with the impact of the Spring Festival in February, a certain volume of wholesale transfers is expected in January. Considering the current market pre-order model, some enterprises still have a considerable number of orders awaiting delivery. As the beginning of the "15th Five-Year Plan" period and given that this year is a significant one for auto consumption, a slight YoY sales increase is anticipated for January.

2026 Outlook

For 2026, the CPCA stated that the subsidy intensity for commercial vehicle renewal under policy encouragement will remain unchanged, while passenger vehicle retirement and renewal subsidies are estimated to decrease by 20% based on the 2025 structure, and the maximum estimated decline for trade-in subsidies is 30. The growth effect for commercial vehicles in 2026 is expected to be better than that for passenger vehicles. The passenger vehicle market in 2026 is projected to follow a "U-shaped" trajectory—high at the beginning, low in the middle, and high again toward the end—with overall vehicle sales remaining flat compared to the domestic retail volume in 2025. Exports are expected to maintain medium-to-high growth of over 10%, yet domestic destocking pressure remains substantial. As a result, total wholesale sales by passenger vehicle producers are forecast to grow by 1%.

In addition, CAAM stated that in 2026, China’s economic work will adhere to the principles of seeking progress while maintaining stability, improving quality, and enhancing efficiency, with a continued focus on domestic demand. Relevant national ministries and commissions have concentrated on key tasks outlined at the Central Economic Work Conference, seized the time window, and taken proactive and front-loaded measures. The program of large-scale equipment upgrades and consumer goods trade-ins was released by the end of 2025, ensuring a smooth and orderly policy transition. Recently, nine departments, including the Ministry of Commerce, jointly issued the "Notice on Implementing the Green Consumption Promotion Initiative," accelerating the green transformation of development modes and consumption patterns, and fostering new growth points for green consumption during the 15th Five-Year Plan period.With the implementation of these policies, confidence in development is expected to be strengthened, market expectations stabilized, and automobile consumption boosted. In 2026, China’s automotive industry will continue to advance high-quality development, with the overall market maintaining steady operation.

In recent years, the "price war" in the automotive sector has intensified. Amid the government's intensified efforts to curb involutionary competition, the State Administration for Market Regulation held a special press conference on January 9, 2025, on the top ten institutional achievements in the comprehensive regulation of involutionary competition. Zhu Meina, Deputy Director-General of the Standards and Technology Department of the State Administration for Market Regulation, stated at the conference that the administration will further accelerate the development of national standards related to NEVs, lithium batteries, and the PV industry. It will also collaborate with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to conduct on-site standard promotion sessions, helping the industry accurately grasp standard content, implement and apply standards in a timely manner, and facilitate the swift and effective adoption of standards, thereby driving high-quality development of PV, lithium-ion battery, and NEV sectors through standardization.

Previously, on December 12, 2025, the State Administration for Market Regulation solicited public comments on the "Compliance Guidelines for Pricing Behavior in the Automotive Industry (Draft for Comment)" (referred to as the "Guidelines"). Subsequently, 11 companies, including BYD, BAIC Group, XPeng Motors, Chery, Great Wall, Changan, Leap Motor, and Seres, responded one after another, committing to optimize price management and compliance systems, eliminate price fraud and unfair competition, and play an exemplary role in the industry.

On the afternoon of January 13, the 2026 annual work conference of the Inter-ministerial Joint Conference on Energy-saving and New Energy Vehicle Industry Development was held in Beijing. The convener of the joint conference, Li Lecheng, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, presided over the meeting and delivered a speech. The meeting thoroughly studied and implemented the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions and directives, followed the arrangements of the Central Economic Work Conference, summarized the work in 2025 and during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, discussed and deliberated on the "15th Five-Year Plan for the Development of the Intelligent Connected New Energy Automotive Industry" (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan"), and made arrangements for key tasks in 2026.

The meeting pointed out that the development of NEVs is a major strategic decision made by the Party Central Committee and the State Council, and an important part of China's efforts to build a modern industrial system. Over the past year, all member units resolutely implemented General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions on promoting the high-quality development of the automotive industry, worked together with close coordination, and promoted the industry to develop towards new and better directions. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, the entire industry faced challenges head-on and worked hard, completing all tasks under the "14th Five-Year Plan" beyond expectations. China's NEV market size increased by 3.6 times, automotive exports surged to rank first globally, the cost of individual power batteries decreased by 30%, their lifespan increased by 40%, and their charging rate improved by more than threefold, further enhancing international competitive advantages. In addition, the meeting also emphasized that it is necessary to further expand automobile consumption, advance the trade-in policy for automobiles, promote the large-scale application of new energy heavy trucks, deepen the reform of NEV insurance, and stimulate diverse consumption potential.

In addition, on January 14, the No.1 Equipment Industry Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Industrial Development Department of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), and the Price Supervision, Inspection and Anti-Unfair Competition Bureau of the State Administration for Market Regulation (hereinafter collectively referred to as the three departments) jointly held a symposium with enterprises in the NEV industry to arrange work related to regulating the competitive order of the NEV industry. Relevant responsible comrades from the Equipment Industry Development Center of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, CAAM, and 17 key automakers attended the meeting.

The meeting required thorough implementation of the decision-making arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, adhering to innovation-driven development and quality first principles, resolutely resisting disorderly "price wars", and promoting the establishment of a market order featuring high quality and fair competition. The three departments will further strengthen work coordination, enhance cost investigations and price monitoring, increase supervision and law enforcement efforts, strengthen supervision and inspection of product production consistency, and deal seriously with non-compliant enterprises in accordance with laws and regulations to maintain a fair and orderly market environment and promote the high-quality development of the automotive industry.