China NEV sales rise 13.1% to 1.94 million in October on exports

China sold 1.94 million new energy vehicles in October 2026, up 13.1% on a year earlier, according to China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) figures published by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on November 11. NEVs took 64.3% of all new vehicle sales, and CnEVPost puts the month above the previous monthly record.

The growth was shipped abroad. NEV exports reached 606,000, up about 140% year on year, out of 1.066 million vehicles of all kinds exported. Total vehicle sales fell 9.2% to 3.016 million.

Sales of NEVs at home fell 8.6% to 1.334 million, per CnEVPost's breakdown of the CAAM data, whose NEV totals count exports alongside domestic sales; by our arithmetic, exports were about 31% of the month's NEVs. Domestic NEVs still gained ground on the rest of the home market in October. Their sales rose 6.5% from September, and their share of domestic vehicle sales climbed to 68.4% from 65.8%, so more than two of every three new vehicles sold at home were NEVs. Over the year, the wider market has fallen faster: CAAM said overall domestic vehicle sales have dropped more than 20% year on year for seven consecutive months. Across home and export sales, battery-electric models did the growing, at 1.353 million, up 22%, while plug-in hybrids slipped about 3% to 587,000.

Through October, China's NEV sales reached 14.411 million, up 11.3% and 54.8% of the market, with NEV exports at 4.612 million, up about 130%. That export trade loses part of its tax advantage on April 1, 2027, when the export VAT rebate on NEVs falls from 13% to 9%.