China's automakers reported July 2026 sales and delivery figures on August 1, with new-energy vehicle (NEV) retail penetration hitting a record for a single month even as the broader passenger-car market cooled in its usual summer lull. BYD (HKG: 1211) again led the pack by volume, while Leapmotor (HKG: 9863) crossed 100,000 monthly deliveries for the first time.

Preliminary data from the China Passenger Car Association put nationwide passenger-vehicle retail at roughly 1.52 million units in July, with NEVs accounting for about 980,000 of them and penetration reaching 64.5 percent, the highest monthly share on record. Heat, rain, and demand pulled forward by June's push to close out the first half left the overall market down slightly from a month earlier, but NEVs held up better than combustion models.

BYD sold 419,211 vehicles in July, of which 411,072 were passenger cars, up 21.76 percent from 344,296 a year earlier. Overseas deliveries of passenger vehicles and pickups reached 179,841, a record and more than double last July's total. January-through-July sales have now topped 2.23 million, and cumulative NEV sales have passed 17.3 million units since the company entered the segment.

Within BYD's lineup, the Dynasty and Ocean series carried the bulk of volume at 350,178 units. Fangchengbao, the brand's off-road-focused line, topped 40,000 deliveries for the first time at 41,213, while Denza delivered 19,196 and the low-volume flagship Yangwang added 485.

NIO (NYSE: NIO) delivered 35,934 vehicles, up 71 percent year-on-year, split across its namesake brand (20,008, up 57.9 percent), the mass-market Onvo line (10,155, up 69.9 percent) and the compact Firefly brand (5,771, up 143.9 percent). Firefly's growth rate was the fastest of the three.

Zeekr, now a wholly owned brand of Geely Auto following its December 2025 delisting from the NYSE, delivered 35,837 vehicles, a brand record, up 111 percent year-on-year, led by the 9X and 8X extended-range SUVs. Leapmotor's 101,267 deliveries marked its first time over the 100,000 mark in a single month, more than doubling its July 2025 volume.

XPeng (NYSE: XPEV) delivered 38,027 vehicles, up about 4 percent, taking cumulative global deliveries past 1.2 million. Li Auto (NASDAQ: LI) delivered 30,468 vehicles, a slight decline from 30,731 a year earlier, with historical cumulative deliveries reaching 1,764,155 as of July 31.

Xiaomi (HKG: 1810) again declined to give an exact figure, saying only that deliveries stayed above 30,000 for a fourth straight month since April, when its refreshed SU7 and new YU7 line reached volume production.

Chery Automobile (HKG: 9973) posted group sales of 276,820 vehicles, up 23.3 percent, with exports of 202,533 units, up 70.1 percent and the first time a Chinese automaker has passed 200,000 monthly export units. NEV sales within the group reached 129,067, nearly double a year earlier.

With several brands already signaling renewed pricing pressure heading into the autumn selling season, whether July's records hold as a floor or mark a high point for 2026 will start to become clear once August figures land.