BYD remained China's largest exporter of electric and plug-in hybrid cars in October, but its lead narrowed. The company shipped 164,679 new energy vehicles abroad, down 5.5% from September, and its share of the country's exports of such cars fell to 28.3% from 31.1%, according to rankings the China Passenger Car Association released on Tuesday and reported by CnEVPost.

For investors in Hong Kong-listed carmakers, the export table now matters as much as the home market. Retail sales of new energy cars in China are shrinking from a year earlier, and overseas shipments are where volume growth is coming from. The October figures show that growth spreading across more companies rather than flowing mainly to BYD.

China's passenger new energy vehicle exports totaled 582,000 in October, up 144.7% from a year earlier and 3.9% from September, the association's data showed. In the first 10 months, they reached 4.47 million, up 139.7%.

Geely narrows the gap with Chery

The tightest race is for second place. Chery exported 83,843 new energy vehicles in October, up 105.4% from a year earlier but down 2.5% from September. Its share slipped to 14.4% from 15.3%.

Geely Auto shipped 80,119, up 488% on the year and 9.9% on the month, lifting its share to 13.8% from 13%. The gap between the two fell to 3,724 vehicles from 13,097 in September, leaving them 0.6 percentage points apart.

SAIC Passenger Vehicle, in fifth place, posted the sharpest monthly gain among the leaders. Its exports rose 42.2% from September to 42,030, and its share climbed to 7.2% from 5.3%. Changan Automobile held sixth with 30,343, a 5.2% share.

Smaller names moved too. Xpeng rose to ninth with 13,326 vehicles, up 32.5% on the month. GAC Aion returned to the top 10 with 12,150, while Dongfeng dropped out. Leapmotor stayed seventh, but its exports fell 23% from September to 21,132, cutting its share to 3.6% from 4.9%.

BYD and Tesla's Shanghai shipments

BYD's October exports were still 105.6% higher than a year earlier, and the company has shipped 1,465,753 new energy vehicles abroad so far this year, up 95.3%. That gives it 32.8% of China's exports for January to October, down from 33.5% at the end of September. Earlier this month, BYD said its total October sales hit a 2026 high as its overseas shipments doubled.

Tesla's Chinese operations exported 59,012 vehicles, up 93.3% from September and 66.3% from a year earlier, ending two months of sequential declines. Its share of exports jumped to 10.1% from 5.4%, keeping it fourth. At home, the U.S. company sold just 8,817 cars at retail in October and dropped out of the top 10 for new energy vehicle sales, according to the association's retail ranking, after placing fourth in September.

The pattern differs once petrol cars are counted. In total passenger car exports, Chery ranked first in October with 196,704 vehicles and a 21.2% share, ahead of BYD at 17.7%. For January to October, Chery has exported 1,724,187 passenger cars, up 63.7%, against BYD's 1,465,753. Geely was third on both measures, with 106,632 cars in October and 900,597 for the year to date.

Weak home market pushes carmakers abroad

The domestic picture explains the push. BYD's retail sales of new energy cars in China fell 15.4% from a year earlier to 250,301 in October, and Geely's fell 19.8% to 131,708, the association's retail ranking showed. Of the top 10 sellers, only Leapmotor, Xiaomi Auto and SAIC Passenger Vehicle sold more than a year earlier. Xiaomi rose to sixth with 50,123 units.

Domestic demand has had help. The association said in early November that consumers were bringing purchases forward because subsidy programs end in December, and that dealers used the Singles Day shopping festival for promotions, Gasgoo reported. It estimated October wholesale sales of new energy passenger cars at about 1.8 million, up 12% from a year earlier.

That support has a fixed end date. If home sales soften after the subsidies lapse, export volumes will carry more of the load for every name in the table, and the contest between Chery and Geely for second place could be settled within a month or two.