BYD’s China EV deliveries sharply decline in December, but lead overall sales in 2025
MUNICH, GERMANY – SEPTEMBER 09: Chinese electric car manufacturer BYD unveils its vehicles (EV) on the opening day of the IAA MOBILITY 2025 auto show in Munich, Germany, on September 09, 2025. IAA is taking place at a time when German automakers’ profits are declining and they are struggling to maintain their market share, while Chinese automakers are making strong gains, especially with electric cars. (Photo: Johannes Simon/Getty Images)
Johannes Simon | Getty Images News | Getty Images
BYD It fell sharply in December from a year earlier as it closed the curtain on a volatile year for Chinese electric vehicles amid an aggressive price war and weak domestic demand.
The company recorded 414,784 deliveries in December, down from 474,921 in November. Friday application.
The latest data puts BYD on track to meet its 2025 sales target, which it cut by 16% to 4.6 million amid increasingly weak domestic demand.
The EV giant also remained the clear market leader, delivering more than 4.54 million passenger vehicles in 2025; This represents a 6.94% increase compared to 2024 deliveries.
This overshadows Tesla’sBetween January and January, 735,274 wholesale deliveries of Model Y and Model 3 vehicles were recorded in China. NovemberBased on CNBC’s calculation with data from the China Passenger Car Association. December numbers have not been published yet.
Affordable models offer advantages
Electric vehicle startups are seeing strong growth in 2025 as mass-market models and aggressive pricing increasingly outperform premium-focused strategies.
Leapmotor has emerged as one of the fastest growing brands. 596,555 deliveries In 2025, this year’s target was exceeded. The automaker, which celebrated its 10th anniversary last year, almost doubled its sales volume compared to 2024 and aims to deliver 1 million electric vehicles in 2026.
xpeng also recorded a sharp increase. Made 429,445 sales for the year – up 126% over 2024 in question Thursday. The automaker’s deliveries peaked in September and October following the launch of the Mona series in September.
Nio The company delivered 326,028 vehicles in 2025, an annual increase of 46.9%. in question In the Thursday release. Nearly half of the deliveries were attributed to Nio’s premium brand. The company also said in a statement that it broke the fastest delivery record for electric vehicles priced over 400,000 yuan ($57,172) in China with its flagship SUV ES8.
Without specifying annual delivery numbers, Xiaomi over recorded 50,000 sales in Decemberbreaking a new record. The smartphone maker delivered more than 380,000 cars in 2025, according to CNBC’s calculations of its monthly data.
Li Auto dollar trend
In contrast, Li Auto 406,343 vehicles were delivered For the whole of 2025, it indicates a sharp decline from the record performance in 2024.
The company delivered 44,246 vehicles in December, bringing the monthly total above 40,000 for the first time since May. The latest data points to an improvement in growth since its sales were hit by a marketing misstep around the launch of the competitively priced Li i8 in September.
Meanwhile, the Huawei-backed Harmony Smart Mobility Alliance, which includes brands such as Aito, Chery and Maextro, has also recorded strong momentum. 589,107 vehicles were delivered 32% annual increase for 2025.
The company said it made 89,611 deliveries in December, marking the third consecutive month of monthly delivery records.
The company did not specify Aito’s delivery figures.
