Chery New Energy Approaches One Million Units, 60% Sold Overseas

When mentioning Chery, many people's first impression is still "a major car exporter". Today, this Chinese automaker that has long relied on fuel-powered vehicles to open up overseas markets is rewriting its own growth structure with new energy vehicles.

According to Chery's latest production and sales data, in October 2026, Chery Group's new energy vehicle sales reached 140,893 units, up 27.7% year-on-year, breaking 100,000 units for 7 consecutive months, setting a new monthly record.

In the first 10 months of this year, Chery's new energy vehicle cumulative sales reached 999,417 units, up 43.2% year-on-year, exceeding last year's full-year level.

Image Source: Chery

Placing this in the global market, Chery's new energy scale is also expanding. According to data from the China Passenger Car Association and other institutions, from January to August of this year, Chery Group's new energy vehicle global market share reached 5.5%, entering the top five global automaker groups.

However, another number is more worth paying attention to than the ranking.

From January to October this year, Chery's new energy vehicle cumulative exports reached 614,065 units, up 130.4% year-on-year. Calculated based on the total new energy sales in the same period, the export share has exceeded 60%.

In other words, for every 10 new energy vehicles Chery sells, more than 6 are sold abroad.

As domestic new energy vehicle market competition becomes increasingly fierce, the overseas market is becoming an important support for Chery's new energy growth.

From a major fuel vehicle exporter to the global top five in new energy

In the past few years, fuel vehicle exports have always been an important pillar of Chery's global operations.

Today, new energy vehicles are beginning to play an increasingly important role.

Image Source: Chery

In October this year, Chery's new energy vehicle exports reached 84,728 units, up 108.6% year-on-year, significantly higher than the 27.7% growth in overall new energy sales in the same period.

The changes in the European market are particularly obvious.

From January to September this year, Chery sold 292,000 cars cumulatively in 24 European countries, up 182%; among them, new energy vehicles exceeded 146,000 units, up 251%.

This means that for every two cars Chery sells in Europe, about one is a new energy model.

Image Source: Chery

In terms of products, brands such as OMODA and JAECOO are expanding their coverage in the European market. Among them, JAECOO 7, JAECOO 5 and OMODA 5 entered the top ten best-selling car lists in the UK, and iCAUR V23 is expanding niche demands in markets such as Thailand and Malaysia.

At the same time as overseas market growth, Chery is also accelerating the improvement of its new energy product matrix domestically.

From mainstream pure electric small cars to family sedans and personalized SUVs, to high-end MPVs, Chery covers more segmented markets through different products and brands such as QQ, Fengyun, iCAR, and Luxeed.

In terms of technology, Rhino Battery, Xunlong Fast Charge and V2G technologies constitute an important part of Chery's electrification layout. Among them, the solid-state battery plan will carry out vehicle installation verification in 2027, and Xunlong Fast Charge has proposed the technical goal of "charging for 5 minutes, range of 500 kilometers".

However, there is still a gap between technical planning and scaled application. For Chery, how to convert technical investment into product competitiveness recognized by different markets will directly affect the continuous growth of new energy vehicle business.

After selling globally, need to take root globally

Doubling new energy vehicle exports means Chery is accelerating the opening of overseas markets.

But the larger the export scale, the more prominent the importance of local operations becomes.

Just recently, Chery Holding Group Chairman Yin Tongyue specifically addressed this issue at the 2026 World Intelligent Connected Vehicle Conference.

Yin Tongyue believes that automotive internationalization cannot be limited to exporting finished vehicles, but should shift from "selling globally" to "growing globally, taking root globally", deeply integrating into local technology chains, supply chains and value chains.

He also warned that Chinese automakers need to be vigilant against blind expansion and malicious price competition, to avoid repeating the early days of motorcycles going overseas for low-price competition, otherwise, "going global" could turn into "filling the sea".

These reminders, placed against Chery's latest sales data, have more direct practical significance.

Image Source: Chery

Currently, Chery is promoting local layout in markets such as Malaysia, South Africa, and Spain. Among them, the South Africa Roslin plant promotes the local manufacturing system to transform towards electrification and intelligence by transforming existing capacity; the Malaysia project plans to promote the layout of integrated R&D, production, supply and sales.

From exporting finished vehicles to integrating local manufacturing resources, Chery's globalization business is extending to more links of the industrial chain.

However, the new energy vehicle export share exceeding 60% also means that Chery's future operating performance will be more affected by overseas policies, market demand and supply chain changes.

Especially in mature automotive markets such as Europe, sales growth is just the first step to enter competition. Product reliability, brand awareness, after-sales service and local cost control will all affect long-term operating performance.

In the past, Chery established a sales channel covering the globe relying on fuel vehicles; today, new energy vehicles are becoming the new growth pillar.

Sales volume close to one million proves that Chery has entered the forefront of global new energy vehicle scale competition. And an export share of more than 60% has also placed a more complex globalization challenge in front of Chery.

Next, what is more important than how many vehicles are exported is whether Chery can truly keep the market.