October 2026 New Force Sales Review: These Three Automakers Hit New Highs Together

Entering the fourth quarter, the car market welcomes the "Silver October" peak sales season. New cars are launching in clusters, terminal incentives are increased, and major automakers are accelerating volume push. In this sales competition, New Force automakers showed varied performance, with October delivery results being a mix of joy and sorrow for various parties.

From New Force sales data, Leapmotor led by a wide margin with over 100,000 units, firmly holding the top sales spot for New Force; Xpeng and Xiaomi both broke through the 50,000 unit threshold, showing strong momentum; in comparison, NIO and Li Auto experienced declines to varying degrees. The former "NIO-Xpeng-Li" structure has long been broken, and the seats in the top tier are constantly being rewritten.

1st Place: Leapmotor 106,127 Units

In October, Leapmotor delivered 106,127 units, a year-on-year increase of 51%, holding steady above the 100,000 unit mark for four consecutive months, with monthly sales hitting a new record high again.

Such bright results are inseparable from Leapmotor's joint efforts in domestic and foreign markets. In the domestic market, the A, B, C, and D four major product series cover different price ranges, providing support for sales. Meanwhile, the overseas market also performed brilliantly, with Leapmotor's cumulative exports exceeding 150,000 units in the first three quarters, completing the annual export goal early. "Walking on two legs", both domestic and foreign markets, became an important reason for Leapmotor's sales growth.

In addition, Leapmotor also plans to further drive sales through new products. The new car Lafa5 will launch at the Guangzhou Auto Show at the end of November, and the B-series brand new hatchback model B05 will also start pre-sales during the same period, adding more force to the sprint for the annual one-million unit sales goal.

However, Leapmotor still has some distance to go for the annual one-million unit goal. In the first ten months, Leapmotor has completed 77.3% of the annual goal; in the last two months, about 227,400 units still need to be delivered. From this perspective, its sprinting pressure is still not small.

2nd Place: Xpeng Motors 50,237 Units

In October, Xpeng Motors delivered 50,237 new cars, with year-on-year and month-on-month double growth, breaking through the 50,000 unit threshold for the first time, refreshing the single-month delivery record.

This is due to Xpeng's absolute sales pillar, the MONA series. Among them, MONA L03 went from 8,424 units delivered in August to breaking through 14,000 units in September, and exceeded 20,000 units in October, with a significant growth momentum. MONA M03 has consecutively held the sales champion title of 100,000-200,000 yuan pure electric cars for 24 consecutive months, driving the cumulative delivery of the MONA series to exceed 360,000 units.

Except for the domestic market, the overseas market also contributed significant sales this month. In October, Xpeng delivered 13,326 units overseas, a year-on-year increase of 166%, accounting for 26.5% of total deliveries. Next, Xpeng will also accelerate overseas market layout. G9L plans to start bookings in Switzerland and Thailand in November, which is expected to add momentum to subsequent sales growth.

However, although single-month sales have hit a new record, Xpeng still has a significant gap to the annual 550,000 unit goal. Even with new products and overseas market assistance, it is not easy for Xpeng to make up for the shortfall in the last two months.

3rd Place: Xiaomi Auto 50,000+ Units

In October, Xiaomi Auto delivered over 50,000 units, creating a new single-month high for this year. From over 40,000 units in September to over 50,000 units in October, Xiaomi Auto's year-end volume push has significantly accelerated.

This round of growth, the newly launched Peng Cheng series contributed a lot. The N70 and N90 launched in September welcomed their first complete delivery month in October, with initial sales locked orders exceeding 70,000 units. As production capacity gradually caught up, Xiaomi's orders also accelerated into actual deliveries. Plus, with SU7 and YU7 sales maintained around 30,000 units, Xiaomi's subsequent sales still have certain growth space.

However, although Xiaomi's monthly sales momentum is good, the annual 550,000 unit goal is not easy to chase. There are only two months left, whether new car deliveries can continue to speed up is still unknown. Trying to make up for the sales gap by the end of the year, the pressure is still not small.

4th Place: NIO 34,246 Units

In October, NIO delivered 34,246 units. Although it declined from 37,408 units in September, it remained above 30,000 units overall. As a premium all-electric brand, NIO's sales performance in the last two months was relatively stable.

From the perspective of its three major brands, the NIO brand delivered 18,125 units, Onvo delivered 8,383 units, both declined compared to September; Firefly delivered 7,738 units, creating a new record for two consecutive months, becoming one of the few bright spots this month. However, Firefly's growth is difficult to offset the decline of the other two major brands. And the 15.23% year-on-year decline in sales this month is also related to the delivery peak brought by the launch of Onvo L90 last year at the same time.

With the "Silver October" sales dropping, the hope for NIO to complete the annual goal has also become faint. In the first ten months, NIO's cumulative deliveries were about 334,500 units, only completing 73% of the lower limit of the annual 456,000 unit goal. Now there are only two months left. With NIO's current sales level, it is already very difficult to meet the goal on schedule.

5th Place: Li Auto 29,025 Units

Once, Li Auto was the sales champion among "NIO-Xpeng-Li", but now it is falling behind a bit. In October, Li Auto delivered 29,025 units, a year-on-year decrease of 8.63%, and a month-on-month decrease of 8.78%. After the brief recovery in August, Li Auto's sales declined again.

From the model perspective, the L series that once supported sales now faces extended range competitors like Aito and Leapmotor. The original family vehicle advantages are gradually weakening, while the sales burden gradually shifts to the pure electric i series. Although the sales of various models in October have not been announced, from the data of the first three quarters, the i6 model contributed over half of the sales. Li Auto's reliance on it is evident.

It is worth mentioning that the 2026 model Li Auto i6 launched at the end of October. Its order performance within 72 hours of launch exceeded the same period last year, giving Li Auto more expectations for subsequent sales growth.

However, approaching the end of the year, the time left for Li Auto to sprint for the annual goal is not much. This year Li Auto must deliver at least about 488,000 units, only completing 66% of the goal in the first ten months. With the current sales of less than 30,000 units, even if the new i6 brings growth, it is basically hopeless to complete the goal by the end of the year.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, in October, the sales gap among New Force automakers was obvious. Leapmotor led by a wide margin with over 100,000 units, Xpeng and Xiaomi both broke through 50,000 units, located in the second tier; NIO and Li Auto hovered around 30,000 units, both with sales declines. Facing fierce market competition, some automakers withstood the pressure and continued to grow, while others had weak growth. The gap further widened between rise and fall.

Currently, with only two months left until the end of the year, each automaker has entered the final sprint stage. Next, whether new cars can quickly release volume and whether the overseas market can contribute more incremental growth will become key for each family to narrow the goal gap. As for who can smile at the end of the year-end finale, this sales competition among New Force is still full of suspense.