Q3 deliveries: NIO and BYD grew by double digits, XPeng and Li Auto did not
NIO delivered 109,178 vehicles in the third quarter (+25.4%) and BYD sold 1,323,065 (+18.7%). XPeng's 118,390 was up 2.1% and Li Auto's 99,964 up 7.2%. The growth came from NIO's premium brand and BYD's exports.
NIO delivered 109,178 vehicles in the third quarter, 25.4% more than a year earlier. BYD sold 1,323,065, up 18.7%. Li Auto's 99,964 was up 7.2%, and XPeng's 118,390 was up 2.1%. Four companies and one quarter, with more than twenty-three points between the fastest grower and the slowest.
| Company | Q3 2026 | Q3 2025 | Change | vs Q2 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NIO | 109,178 | 87,071 | +25.4% | +1.4% |
| BYD | 1,323,065 | 1,114,192 | +18.7% | +19.4% |
| Li Auto | 99,964 | 93,211 | +7.2% | +1.7% |
| XPeng | 118,390 | 116,007 | +2.1% | +14.6% |
NIO: the premium brand carried the quarter
NIO's three brands went three different ways. The NIO brand delivered 62,500 vehicles, up 69.2% on 36,928. Firefly delivered 18,950, up 51.8% on 12,487. ONVO delivered 27,728, down 26.4% on 37,656. Group volume rose 25.4% because the expensive brand more than made up for the cheap one.
- NIO
- ONVO
- Firefly
| Period | NIO | ONVO | Firefly | Vehicles delivered (total) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 25 | 17,143 | 17,342 | 5,912 | 40,397 | NIO October 2025 delivery update |
| Nov 25 | 18,393 | 11,794 | 6,088 | 36,275 | NIO November 2025 delivery update |
| Dec 25 | 31,897 | 9,154 | 7,084 | 48,135 | NIO December 2025 delivery update |
| Jan 26 | 20,894 | 3,481 | 2,807 | 27,182 | NIO January 2026 delivery update |
| Feb 26 | 15,159 | 2,981 | 2,657 | 20,797 | NIO February 2026 delivery update |
| Mar 26 | 22,490 | 6,877 | 6,119 | 35,486 | NIO March 2026 delivery update |
| Apr 26 | 19,024 | 5,352 | 4,980 | 29,356 | NIO April 2026 delivery update |
| May 26 | 20,013 | 12,029 | 5,663 | 37,705 | NIO May 2026 delivery update |
| Jun 26 | 21,908 | 11,743 | 6,946 | 40,597 | NIO June 2026 delivery update |
| Jul 26 | 20,008 | 10,155 | 5,771 | 35,934 | NIO July 2026 delivery update |
| Aug 26 | 21,174 | 8,810 | 5,852 | 35,836 | NIO August 2026 delivery update |
| Sep 26 | 21,318 | 8,763 | 7,327 | 37,408 | NIO September and third quarter 2026 delivery update |
Source: NIO September and third quarter 2026 delivery update
In NIO's brand mix inversion we set September as the test: would ONVO hold above 8,000, and would it fall for a fourth month. It held, and it fell, by 47 vehicles from August's 8,810. Firefly broke out of the band it had held from March to August: 7,327 was 19.6% of the group's September volume, against 15.0% to 17.2% in each of those six months.
NIO brand, Q3 YoY
▲ +69.2%
ONVO, Q3 YoY
▼ 26.4%
BYD exports, Sept YoY
▲ +153.6%
Li Auto, Sept vs Aug
▼ 15.6%
BYD: back to growth, and the growth was abroad
BYD's three monthly announcements to the Hong Kong exchange add up to 1,323,065 vehicles sold in the quarter. It is the first quarter of 2026 to beat the same quarter a year earlier: the first was 30.0% below (700,463 against 1,000,804) and the second 3.2% below (1,108,048 against 1,145,150). September's 463,561 is the highest month of the year so far.
Source: BYD production and sales volume announcement, September 2026
The mix under that number is the story. BYD's September announcement notes 180,700 vehicles exported, against 71,256 in September 2025. Take exports out of the total and what is left fell from 325,014 to 282,861, down 13.0%. That subtraction is ours and assumes the export figure sits inside the sales volume; BYD does not break the domestic number out. Across the quarter, the notes in the July, August and September announcements put exports at 550,704, or 41.6% of sales.
BYD reports sales volume rather than deliveries, which is why its row is labelled differently in the table above. The two are not guaranteed to be the same number.
XPeng and Li Auto: volume without much growth
XPeng delivered 118,390 vehicles, up 14.6% on the second quarter but only 2.1% on the third quarter of 2025, and the highest quarter in this site's file. September was 41,256, 5% above August by XPeng's own count, and its release says the L03 passed 10,000 deliveries in the month. Over nine months XPeng has delivered 284,367 against 313,196 a year earlier, down 9.2%.
| Period | Vehicles delivered | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 25 | 94,008 | XPENG Q1 2025 results |
| Q2 25 | 103,181 | XPENG Q2 2025 results |
| Q3 25 | 116,007 | XPENG Q3 2025 results |
| Q4 25 | 116,249 | XPENG Q4 and FY2025 results |
| Q1 26 | 62,682 | XPENG Q1 2026 results |
| Q2 26 | 103,295 | XPENG Q2 2026 results |
| Q3 26 | 118,390 | XPENG vehicle delivery results for September and Q3 2026 |
Source: XPENG vehicle delivery results for September and Q3 2026
Li Auto delivered 99,964 vehicles: 30,468 in July, 37,679 in August and 31,817 in September. The quarter is up 7.2% on a year earlier and 1.7% on the second quarter, but September fell 15.6% from August. Its release says the new Li L6 passed 10,000 deliveries in September and that the Li MEGA Home and Li i9 Home launched in the month. Nine-month deliveries are 293,436, down 1.2% on 297,149.
| Period | Vehicles delivered | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 25 | 92,864 | Li Auto Q2 2026 results, delivery history table |
| Q2 25 | 111,074 | Li Auto Q2 2026 results, delivery history table |
| Q3 25 | 93,211 | Li Auto Q2 2026 results, delivery history table |
| Q4 25 | 109,194 | Li Auto Q2 2026 results, delivery history table |
| Q1 26 | 95,142 | Li Auto Q2 2026 results, delivery history table |
| Q2 26 | 98,330 | Li Auto Q2 2026 results |
| Q3 26 | 99,964 | Li Auto July, August and September 2026 delivery updates, summed |
Source: Li Auto July, August and September 2026 delivery updates, summed
What to watch
- Oct 2026Li Auto launches the new Li i6 and shows it in Europe at the Paris Motor Show
- Oct 2026XPeng plans the global launch of the G9L in Paris
- Q3 resultsEach company reports financials, and with them the first view of the fourth quarter
NIO, XPeng and Li Auto each gave a delivery range for the quarter, and each landed inside it. Where in the range they landed is the more useful number, and we score it in the Q3 guidance scorecard.
Sources
- NIO July 2025 delivery update
- NIO August 2025 delivery update
- NIO September 2025 delivery update
- NIO June 2026 delivery update
- NIO July 2026 delivery update
- NIO August 2026 delivery update
- NIO September and third quarter 2026 delivery update
- XPENG Q1 2025 results
- XPENG Q2 2025 results
- XPENG Q3 2025 results
- XPENG Q2 2026 unaudited financial results (Q3 guidance, 24 August 2026)
- XPENG vehicle delivery results for September and Q3 2026
- Li Auto Q2 2026 unaudited financial results (Q3 guidance, July 2026 deliveries, delivery history table, 26 August 2026)
- Li Auto August 2026 delivery update
- Li Auto September 2026 delivery update
- BYD production and sales volume announcement, January 2025
- BYD production and sales volume announcement, February 2025
- BYD production and sales volume announcement, March 2025
- BYD production and sales volume announcement, April 2025
- BYD production and sales volume announcement, May 2025
- BYD production and sales volume announcement, June 2025
- BYD production and sales volume announcement, July 2025
- BYD production and sales volume announcement, August 2025
- BYD production and sales volume announcement, September 2025
- BYD production and sales volume announcement, January 2026
- BYD production and sales volume announcement, February 2026
- BYD production and sales volume announcement, March 2026
- BYD production and sales volume announcement, April 2026
- BYD production and sales volume announcement, May 2026
- BYD production and sales volume announcement, June 2026
- BYD production and sales volume announcement, July 2026
- BYD production and sales volume announcement, August 2026
- BYD production and sales volume announcement, September 2026
- Quarterly totals for NIO and XPeng, and the nine-month figures, come from their own releases above. BYD and Li Auto publish monthly figures, so their quarters are the sum of three monthly releases. Exports are the export volume stated in BYD's announcements for September 2025 and July to September 2026. Percentages, shares and sums are calculated by Northline Post from those figures.
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