--- title: "Chinese Automakers' Sales Largely Fail to Gallop Into New Year — Update" description: "Chinese automakers experienced a significant sales decline in February, with BYD's sales down 41% year-on-year and XPeng's dropping 50%. Geely and Great Wall Motor also reported declines, while NIO an" type: "news" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/277412116.md" published_at: "2026-03-02T06:11:34.000Z" --- # Chinese Automakers' Sales Largely Fail to Gallop Into New Year — Update > Chinese automakers experienced a significant sales decline in February, with BYD's sales down 41% year-on-year and XPeng's dropping 50%. Geely and Great Wall Motor also reported declines, while NIO and Leapmotor saw increases. The Lunar New Year holiday impacted sales figures, and analysts predict a soft first quarter due to weaker consumer demand and competition. However, Morningstar forecasts a 10% to 15% growth in 2026, supported by new product releases and government subsidies. Shares of most Chinese carmakers fell, except for BYD, which saw a rise in stock prices. By Jiahui Huang Chinese automakers broadly recorded a sharp drop in sales in February as demand in the world's largest auto industry waned during the Lunar New Year month. Vehicle sales typically slow around the long Spring Festival holiday, which lasted nine days in 2026, but the latest figures also underscore the tough road ahead for Chinese carmakers after years of rapid growth and aggressive expansion in the top electric-vehicle market. BYD, now the world's biggest EV seller, overtaking Tesla, sold a total of 190,190 vehicles in February, down 41% from a year earlier. That included 79,539 fully electric cars, a 36% decline from the previous year. XPeng, known for its autonomous-driving technology, fared worse, with deliveries falling 50% to 15,256 units. Geely Automobile, China's second-largest EV maker, saw its monthly sales fall 11% to 154,834 units, while Great Wall Motor reported a 6.8% decline in sales to 72,594 units. Hybrid-vehicle specialist Li Auto sold 26,421 units, 158 more than the same period last year, while Xiaomi, a relatively new entrant, said it sold more than 20,000 EVs in February. NIO, known for its battery-swapping tech, was among the month's standout performers, posting a 58% jump in sales to 20,797 units. Hangzhou-based Leapmotor continued to gain market share, selling 28,067 units last month, up 11% from a year ago. February sales were affected by the timing of the Lunar New Year, according to Vincent Sun, senior equity analyst at Morningstar. The holiday fell in mid-February this year, but in late-January last year. Despite the holiday-induced distortion, first-quarter sales will likely be soft, given the rush-buying last year amid concerns that subsidies for EV purchases wouldn't be extended, Sun said. The Chinese car industry entered 2026 facing continued challenges from weaker consumer demand and fierce domestic competition. In January, the country's EV and hybrid sales fell for the first time in almost two years, declining 20% to 596,000 units, data from the China Passenger Car Association showed. But in an encouraging sign, the CPCA said last month that February could mark the trough for auto sales this year, given that the Lunar New Year falls during the month. Morningstar remains positive about the sector's growth, pegging 2026 sales growth at 10% to 15%. "As the renewed trade-in scheme ties subsidies to car prices, we think the higher-priced segment would benefit more from the policy than the mass segment this year," Sun said. Chinese automakers are also starting to release their key products for the year and tech upgrades following the Lunar New Year holiday, Nomura analysts wrote in a note. The rollout of new technology and products, as well as some promotions and subsidies from local governments, may lift sentiment slightly, they said. Shares of Chinese carmakers were largely lower in Hong Kong on Monday. Xiaomi led declines, falling 3.8% in afternoon trading, while XPeng was down 0.5% and Geely shed 1.8%. NIO's shares were 2.7% lower and Li Auto lost 0.5%. BYD bucked the declines, rising 4.4%. Its Shenzhen-listed stock rose 7.6%. Write to Jiahui Huang at jiahui.huang@wsj.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires March 02, 2026 01:04 ET (06:04 GMT) Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. ### Related Stocks - [516380.CN - Hwabao WP CSI Intelligent Electric Vehicle ETF](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/516380.CN.md) - [DRIV.US - Global X Autonomous & Electric V](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/DRIV.US.md) - [515030.CN - Hua Xia CSI New Energy Vehicles ETF](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/515030.CN.md) - [002594.CN - BYD](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/002594.CN.md) - [BYDDY.US - BYD Company](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/BYDDY.US.md) - [01211.HK - BYD COMPANY](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/01211.HK.md) - [BYDDF.US - BYD Company Limited](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/BYDDF.US.md) ## Related News & Research | Title | Description | URL | |-------|-------------|-----| | 汽车巨头变身 AI 大厂？63 亿美元砸向 AI，建数据中心和机器人工厂 | 现代汽车宣布投资 63 亿美元在韩国建设 AI 数据中心（5 万块 GPU）、机器人工厂及绿氢设施，以加速自动驾驶与机器人技术研发。项目预计创造 7.1 万个岗位，推动韩国综指收复早盘 2.4% 跌幅。 | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/277152045.md) | | 比亚迪二月份的汽车销量以自疫情以来最快的速度下降 | 北京，3 月 1 日（路透社）- 中国电动车制造商比亚迪上个月全球销量出现六年来最大跌幅。根据周日的股票市场公告，比亚迪 2 月份的销量较去年同期暴跌 41.1%，这是连续第六个月下滑。上个月的跌幅是自 2020 年 2 月疫情冲击经济以来 | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/277353635.md) | | 比亚迪首次在海外的汽车销量超过了在中国的销量 | 比亚迪，中国最大的汽车制造商，在 2026 年 2 月的销量下降了 41%，交付了 190,190 辆电动车和混合动力车。值得注意的是，海外销量首次超过国内销量，国际交付量同比增长 41.4%，达到 100,151 辆。这标志着中国销量连续 | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/277444346.md) | | 吉利以自 2022 年以来最大的销售差距扩大了对比亚迪的领先优势 | 吉利汽车控股在连续第二个月超越比亚迪的汽车销量，前两个月的销量差距约为 76,000 辆。这是自 2022 年以来最大的销量领先，因为比亚迪面临着 36% 的销量下降。吉利的成功归功于其受欢迎的车型，而比亚迪则面临着创新和改善产品线的压力。 | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/277404991.md) | | 据央视报道，中国在春节假期期间共记录了 171,000 次航班 | 中国在春节假期期间共记录了 171,000 个航班 - CCTV | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/276687156.md) | --- > **Disclaimer**: This article is for reference only and does not constitute any investment advice.