China wholesales September 2025: Leapmotor, Xiaomi, Xpeng at all time high, market up 12.4%

Leapmotor sells almost 60,000 units in September.

It’s a new all-time September record for Chinese wholesales, up a stunning 12.4% year-on-year to 2,803,000 units. The year-to-date tally is up 13.1% to 20,845,000. SUVs are up 15.4% for the month to 1,561,000, Passenger Car are up 7.9% to 1,129,000 and MPVs up 19% to 112,000. Through September, SUVs are up 13.1% to 11,202,000, Passenger Cars up 12.1% to 8,756,000 and MPVs up 23.2% to 887,000. Indigenous carmakers soar 18% to 1,975,000 or 70.5% share vs. 70% last month. NEV wholesales are up 22.4% to 1.5 million units and YTD volumes are up 31.9% to 10,444,000. Production is up 17.2% to 2,838,000 and exports are up 20.7% to 528,000 for a YTD total reaching 3,999,000, up 12.5% over the same period in 2024. NEVs account for 40.1% of September’s imports, up from 25% a year ago.

BYD continues to dive at -15.5% year-on-year, although September 2024 was a an all-time record month so the comparison base is particularly high. Despite the drop, the carmaker still dominates the ranking head and shoulders, selling over 125,000 units more than #2 Geely. Within the BYD lineup, some blockbusters suffer such as the Song Plus (-74%), Destroyer 05 (-64.6%), Han (-64.6%), Song L (-56.3%), Seagull (-47.3%), Qin L (-30.7%) and Seal 06 (-18.6%). The Dolphin rallies back up 41.7% and the Yuan up grows 61.8% while a slew of recent launches contain the overall loss, such as the Sealion 06 (30,532), Sealion 05 (14,524), Seal 05 (12,653) and Seal 06GT (3,979). Similarly to the past few months, Geely (+62.3%) is on a roll and confirms its 2nd place. The carmarker’s star, the Xingyuan hatch, breaks its volume record for the 9th straight month but drops from the overall top spot. The Galaxy NEV lineup is up 71.6% to 49,826 units.

Xpeng is just under 37,000 wholesales this month.

Volkswagen (-14.3%) remains in third place and is in difficulty, pulling its YTD volume down -2.3%. Toyota (-1.6%) is also down, and distances Wuling (+1.1%) and Changan (+22.1%). Tesla (-0.9%) is stable which is disappointing in a surging market. Below Chery (+7.4%) down three spots to #8, Leapmotor (+84.6%) signs a 2nd ever Top 10 finish at #9 and smashes its volume record for the 5th month running. After passing the 50,000 monthly unit mark for the firs time in August, it ends September just shy of 60,000. A spectacular rise for the Stellantis-linked manufacturer. Xiaomi (+209.4%) is above 40,000 sales for the first time (as the YU7 now outsells the SU7), reaching a record 15th place notably above Mercedes. Xpeng (+97.1%) is another record-breaker this month.

Looking at the models ranking in isolation, the Wuling Hongguang Mini EV (+78.9%) edges past the Tesla Model Y (+6.2%) to snap the top spot for the first time since July 2022 thanks to the addition of a 4-door variant. The Geely Xingyuan (+4708%) celebrates one year in market but falls to #3 despite a record volume. It remains by far the YTD best-seller. The BYD Qin Plus (+0.7%) stays at #4 while the Nissan Sylphy (-0.2%) impresses with a stable haul, a rarity for a foreign model these days. BYD also places the new Sealion 06, Seal 06 (-18.6%), Qin L (-30.7%), Yuan Up (+61.8%) and Seagull (-47.3%) among the 11 best-sellers. The Xiaomi YU7 is up 10 spots to a brilliant 14th place and will no doubt improve further over the next few months.

Previous month: China wholesales August 2025: BYD down -20.7%, Geely up 83.6%, Leapmotor breaks record again

One year ago: China wholesales September 2024: BYD, Li Auto, Jetour and Leapmotor at all-time high

Full September 2025 Top 100 All brands and Top 607 All models below.