According to October delivery figures released by each brand, the wholesale rankings among China's new-force automakers are as follows: Leapmotor led the pack with 106,127 vehicles, followed by Xpeng at 50,237; Hyptec Aion came in third with 42,357; NIO delivered 34,246, the Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance (HIMA) 33,537, Deepal 32,602, Zeekr 32,483, and Li Auto 29,025. Xiaomi officially stated only that it delivered "more than 50,000 vehicles."

In October, Leapmotor topped the new-force rankings by a wide margin, while Hyptec Aion quietly climbed the ladder.

Leapmotor was the only brand to surpass 100,000 units in a single month and has now held above that mark for four consecutive months, posting 51% year-on-year growth and opening a gap of more than 50,000 vehicles over the runner-up. Calling it a "landslide" is no longer just a figure of speech.

Xpeng grew 22% month-on-month, crossing the 50,000-unit mark in a single month for the first time, with year-on-year growth of 20%—the most solid growth rate in the second tier.

The five brands in the third tier are clustered in the 29,000–34,000 range, with only about 5,000 vehicles separating first from last. NIO, HIMA, Zeekr, and Li Auto all posted month-on-month declines ranging from 8.5% to 12.7%, with Zeekr recording the steepest drop.

Xiaomi's ranking is somewhat ambiguous because the company did not disclose an exact figure, but "more than 50,000" is enough to place it in the second tier alongside Hyptec Aion.

Each company's signature strength is reflected in its sales mix.

Leapmotor's best-sellers are the family-oriented lineup formed by the C10, C11, C16, B01, and B10. The C10's global monthly sales once reached 18,000 units; the C11 and C16 together contributed more than 55,000 vehicles; and the B01 and B10 provided effective supplementation in the entry-level segment. What these models share is affordable pricing, practical space, and adequate equipment. No single specification is pushed to the extreme, yet none holds the product back.

Xpeng's sales mainstay is the MONA M03, which sold more than 10,000 units per month for four consecutive months in the first half of the year and delivered 13,699 units in April alone—accounting for 44% of the brand's deliveries that month. The G6 and P7+ are the second and third growth drivers, though their volume gap with the MONA M03 is obvious.

Xiaomi's signature strength underwent a key shift in October: the Pengcheng extended-range series contributed nearly half of deliveries in its first full delivery month, while the SU7 and YU7 battery-electric models held the base. Pengcheng filled Xiaomi's previous product gap—having only sedans—and covered the family long-distance market, making it the most direct driver of crossing the 50,000-unit threshold.

NIO's structure runs three brands in parallel: the NIO brand with 18,125 vehicles, Onvo with 8,383, and Firefly with 7,738. Onvo's cumulative deliveries surpassed 200,000 over two years, and Firefly has held first place in premium small-car market share for 17 consecutive months.

HIMA's mainstays are the AITO M9 (10,390 units in September) and M6 (8,680 units), but the M8 has fallen to the thousand-unit level.

Zeekr's volume model is the 7X, which exceeded 10,000 units in a single month in July and has cumulative deliveries of nearly 170,000; sales of the 001 have fallen to a secondary position.

Li Auto's best-selling mix is the most unusual: the i6 and L6 together account for nearly 80% of sales volume, while sales of the three high-priced models—the L7, L8, and L9—have plunged by 70%. The brand's sales center of gravity is shifting downward irreversibly.

Forecast for the 2026 new-force sales ranking: Leapmotor locked for first, Xiaomi may move up.

Leapmotor completed about 77.3% of its 1 million-unit annual target in the first 10 months. Even without a sprint in the final two months, its position as the year's top new force is essentially locked. Xpeng's fourth-quarter target implies an average of about 72,000 units per month; October's 50,200 is still short of that goal, but its month-on-month growth trend is the healthiest among the three.

Xiaomi's cumulative total from January to October was about 336,500 vehicles, leaving a gap of 213,500 to its annual target of 550,000. It needs to average about 57,000 vehicles per month in the remaining two months, and whether Pengcheng's production capacity continues to ramp up is the key variable for meeting that target.

Based on full-year growth expectations, NIO needs to average 60,900 to 77,200 vehicles per month in the final two months—clearly above its October level—putting it under the greatest sprint pressure.

Li Auto's model-change period has not yet ended, and a short-term return above 40,000 units will be difficult. Overall, the final year-end ranking is highly likely to be: Leapmotor first; Xpeng and Xiaomi contesting second (depending on the pace of Xiaomi's Pengcheng capacity release); NIO fourth; HIMA and Zeekr locked in a close battle for fifth and sixth; and Li Auto seventh.

When the old "Wei-Xiao-Li" narrative ends in 2026, it will be officially replaced by "Ling-Xiao-Xiao."