With the end of the year in sight, China’s electric vehicle market is separating the talkers from the doers. A recent report from Yiche Ranking lays it bare, only three new energy vehicle brands are actually on pace to hit their ambitious 2025 sales targets. For the rest of the pack, it’s looking like a mad dash to the finish line with little chance of victory.
The Frontrunners
Xpeng isn’t just on track, it already crossed the finish line. The company blew past its 350,000 unit goal for 2025, recording 355,209 sales by the end of October. That’s a 101.5% completion rate, making Xpeng the only domestic brand to clinch its annual target a full two months early. It’s a powerful statement in the world’s most competitive EV arena.
Leapmotor is hot on its heels and running strong. Aiming for 500,000 sales, the automaker has already moved 465,805 units, putting it at 93.2% of its goal. Leapmotor even shattered its own monthly sales record in October, selling over 70,000 cars and cementing its position as the year’s top-selling NEV brand so far.
Then there’s Xiaomi Auto, a company with a different kind of problem, a good one. With a target of 350,000 units, it has delivered 306,184 vehicles for an 87.5% completion rate. But unlike others, Xiaomi is struggling with a massive backlog of orders, not a lack of demand. Production capacity constraints are capping its monthly deliveries around 40,000 units. As its manufacturing ramps up, expect Xiaomi’s sales figures to explode.
| Rank | Brand | Target Completion | 2025 Target (units) | Jan-Oct Sales (units) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | XPeng | 101.5 % | 350,000 | 355,209 |
| 02 | Leapmotor | 93.2 % | 500,000 | 465,805 |
| 03 | Xiaomi Auto | ~87.5 % | 350,000 | ~306,184 |
| 04 | IM Motors | ~63.4 % | 100,000 | ~63,376 |
| 05 | Voyah | 57.1 % | 200,000 | 114,210 |
| 06 | Nio | 54.9 % | 440,000 | 241,618 |
| 07 | Deepal | 53.8 % | 500,000 | 269,058 |
| 08 | Zeekr | 51.6 % | 320,000 | 165,023 |
| 09 | Li Auto | 51.4 % | 640,000 | 328,916 |
| 10 | Avatr | 47.4 % | 220,000 | 104,245 |
| 11 | Denza | 41.9 % | 300,000 | 125,740 |
| 12 | Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance | ~41.8 % | 1,000,000 | ~418,121 |
The Chasing Pack
Looking down the list, the picture gets a lot tougher. The brands ranked from fourth to twelfth are all lagging significantly. Not a single one managed to cross the 83.3% sales threshold needed by October to stay on a realistic path toward their year-end goals. For them, hitting their 2025 targets is now highly improbable.
Even so, it’s not all bad news. Despite the pressure of ambitious targets, brands like IM Motors, Voyah, and Nio have rolled out some genuinely popular models this year. They may not win the 2025 sales race, and some are even shaking up leadership to address performance, but they’ve all shown that they can still command consumer attention and achieve substantial sales growth. It just goes to show how brutally fast and unforgiving the Chinese EV market can be.
