China’s passenger car market is expected to recover in March after a sharp February slowdown, with automakers deploying more than 30 new and revamped model launches.
Car sales declined in February as the record-long Spring Festival holiday reduced the number of working days, increasing the expected impact on both production, logistics, and sales operations.
Aiming to revive demand ahead of the Beijing Auto Show — the largest and most important product event of the year — automakers are also deploying a broadening set of trade-in and purchase incentives.
February Sales
The China Automobile Dealers Association attributed the February slump to a combination of pre-holiday inventory clearance, shifts in new energy vehicle tax policy and buyer expectations of discounts.
Three quarters of dealers — 76.8% — said February sales fell short of expectations, according to the Association.
Among the leading automakers, SAIC sold 269,500 vehicles and BYD sold 190,200, both declining year-on-year and month-on-month — representing the largest sales drop since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Geely was the exception, selling 206,200 vehicles for a slight year-on-year gain of 0.6%, supported by its new energy brands Lynk & Co and Zeekr.
Lynk & Co delivered 27,000 vehicles, up 59% year-on-year, while Zeekr sold 24,000 units, a 70% year-on-year increase.
Chery sold 160,800 vehicles and Changan Automobile sold 151,922, the latter up 12.8% from January but down 5.9% compared with February 2025.
Exports were the standout story for February.
Geely‘s overseas sales surged 138% year-on-year while BYD‘s overseas sales surpassed its domestic sales for the first time, growing 41.4% year-on-year.
Chery has now exported more than 100,000 vehicles monthly for ten consecutive months.
Leapmotor delivered 28,100 plug-in hybrid and fully electric vehicles, Li Auto 26,400, Nio sold 20,797 fully electric vehicles and Xiaomi reported more than 20,000 units as it prepares to launch its first extended-range model.
All the brands showed month-on-month declines but year-on-year growth.
XPeng fell short of the threshold, delivering 15,256 vehicles — a 49.9 percent drop year-on-year and a 23.8% decline from January.
Alongside new product, brands including Leapmotor, Aito and Nio have introduced purchase packages combining financial subsidies with free access to advanced driver-assistance system features.
China’s national trade-in programme offers up to 20,000 yuan ($2,900) for scrapping older vehicles in favour of new energy models and up to 15,000 yuan ($2,200) for trade-ins, both stackable with local government and automaker incentives.
Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the China Passenger Car Association, said clearer processes and new product will ease hesitation.
The China Automobile Dealers Association sees traffic and sales rising in March — but expects the rebound to be modest, as first reported by China Daily.
March Recovery Under Way
Facing the February downturn, automakers moved quickly to prepare a March response.
More than 30 new models have been or are scheduled to launch during the month.
Within the first week alone, BAIC’s Arcfox brand opened pre-sales for the Alpha S5 sedan on March 1, starting at 112,800 yuan ($16,350), with six variants covering both pure electric and range-extended options and an official launch expected in mid to late March.
XPeng launched a new pure electric version of its X9 MPV last week, with five variants priced from 309,800 yuan — equivalent to $44,900.
GAC‘s Hyptec brand followed on March 4 with the A800, a mid-to-large flagship sedan with a range-extended powertrain.
BYD closed the opening week on March 5 with the launch of eleven revamped and new models as it seeks to revive demand in its domestic market.
Among the brand new models, BYD launched Datang, the first D-segment flagship SUV in its Dynasty lineup, built on a 1,000-volt high-voltage architecture and a record range of nearly a thousand kilometers.
Beijing Auto Show
The larger product wave is building toward the Beijing International Automotive Exhibition, which opens on April 24 and runs through May 3.
The biennial show attracted a record 892,000 visitors in 2024, and this year’s edition is expected to surpass those figures.
Nio has scheduled a technology launch event for its flagship ES9 SUV on April 9, ahead of its public Beijing debut.
The ES9 is Nio‘s largest vehicle to date, measuring 5,365 millimetres in length, with a dual-motor all-wheel drive system producing 520 kilowatts, dual Shenji NX 9031 intelligent driving chips, SkyRide active chassis and up to 620 kilometres of range on the CLTC cycle.
Morgan Stanley has estimated an average selling price above 500,000 yuan. Deliveries begin on the first day of June.
Separately, Nio‘s sub-brand Onvo will hold a product and technology launch for the L80 around April 20, just before the show opens.
The five-seat version of the L90 will be offered in pure-vision and LiDAR variants, with deliveries planned from mid-May.
XPeng is expected to show its GX flagship extended-range SUV — more than 5.2 metres in length and priced above 400,000 yuan — targeting the premium large-SUV segment alongside the Aito M9 and Li Auto L9.
Smart, the joint venture between Geely and Mercedes-Benz, will debut the pre-production prototype of its #2, a two-door, two-seat city electric vehicle built on a new ultra-compact architecture, with a production launch planned for later in 2026.
The Beijing show will also introduce three new automotive brands co-developed with Huawei.
Yijing — built jointly by Dongfeng Motor and Huawei — will debut a full-size six-seat SUV in both battery electric and extended-range variants, equipped with Huawei’s Qiankun ADS system and HarmonyOS cockpit, with a market launch targeted for the third quarter.
GAC Group‘s Qijing brand, also developed with Huawei, will debut its first model, a shooting brake-style coupe, with two models planned by mid-year.
A third Huawei-backed brand, Huajing, developed by SAIC-GM-Wuling’s Baojun division, is targeting a first-half launch for the Huajing S, a 5,235-millimetre six-seat SUV with Huawei Qiankun ADS 4 Pro.
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Chinese automaker XPeng launched on Monday the third generation of its fully electric X9 model in its domestic market, slashing the entry-level price by 50,000 yuan — equivalent to $7,300.
The cheapest trim of the multi-purpose van (MPV) X9 665 Max starts at 309,800 yuan — equivalent to $45,200.
The 50,000 yuan ($7,300) price cut comes as the world’s largest EV market continues facing a price war in 2026, with nearly all automakers announcing significant incentives.
The 2025-model-year X9 was priced from 359,800 yuan, equivalent to $52,500.
The top trim 710 All-Wheel Drive Ultra variant starts at 369,800 yuan, or $53,900.
X9 Background
The BEV version of the X9 was first launched in January 2024 in China.
In April 2025, the automaker debuted the second-generation of the model.
Last November, the Chinese company began its dual-powertrain transition, with the launch of the extended-range electric vehicle (EREV) version of the model in its domestic market.
As of March, the EREV version is exclusively sold in China, but XPeng was reported last November to see the potential of its EREVs in Europe.
Apart from China, the fully electric version of the model is already available in several countries and regions, including Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Macau.
The BEV version of the model is set to arrive in Europe later this year, with a mid-year launch planned for the UK.
Launch Incentives
XPeng introduced limited-time benefits, including a three-year 0% interest rate and a low-interest financing offer for five to seven years, or a 5,000 yuan ($700) optional configuration fund, and a cabin upgrade package worth 12,000 yuan ($1,700).
A maximum trade-in subsidy of 15,000 yuan — equivalent to $2,200 — and a lifetime warranty for the model’s battery, motor, and electronics were also offered.
The brand revealed on its official Weibo account that owners of the previous iterations of the model can enjoy up to 25,000 yuan ($3,600) in cash trade-in benefits and 13,500 yuan ($2,000) in free repurchase charging credits.
When the Guangzhou-based carmaker announced the updated X9’s debut last week, it unveiled pre-order benefits, such as a 2,000 yuan ($300) reservation deposit and a 7,000 yuan ($1,000) promotion on the purchase price.
Pre-orders of the 2026 iteration opened at the end of January.
New Interior Details
With its launch, the third generation of the XPeng X9 becomes “the world’s longest-range pure-electric seven-seater,” according to the carmaker.
The updated model’s three-row electric “triple-fold” zero-gravity seats offer options of four to seven seats, with airbags, capable of reclining 180°.
It also features a minimum turning radius of 5.4 m (17.7 feet), dual-chamber air suspension, and a tire burst stability system.
All trims of the new X9 are equipped with the in-house developed Turing chip, which has a maximum computing power of 2,250 TOPS.
The model’s Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) system can operate at a maximum speed of 130 km/h.
VLA 2.0 Launch
Alongside the Gen-3 X9, XPeng launched on Monday its VLA 2.0 — its large-scale end-to-end autonomous driving (AV) solution.
The model is already implemented in the revamped MPV.
The automaker’s founder and CEO He Xiaopeng stated at the launch event that it is set to begin commercial deliveries of its VLA 2.0 next year, entering the global market with its full-blood version.
Xiaopeng also anticipated that the new era of full self-driving would start within the next one to three years.
According to XPeng, the latest system delivers “smooth” urban driving for “peace of mind”, 10 times longer takeover distance with enhanced night perception, full-scenario coverage from alleys to parking lots, and chauffeur-level efficiency in complex traffic.
“The XPeng Second-Generation VLA launches the L4-era physical world ‘large model,’ redefining smart driving with more reassuring experiences, stronger capabilities, broader scenarios, and more efficient navigation,” the carmaker wrote on Weibo.
Last Thursday, Xiaopeng wrote on the Chinese social media that he had been “intensively testing” the new technology and that it entered mass production.
A few days earlier, XPeng secured Volkswagen as the first commercial customer for its VLA 2.0, marking the first time a major Western carmaker will use Chinese-developed AV software.
February Sales
One day before the Gen-3 X9’s and VLA 2.0’s debut, XPeng announced that it sold 15,256 vehicles globally last month.
The figures nearly halved (49.9%) from February 2025, when the company registered 30,453 units.
Compared to January’s 20,011 deliveries, sales fell by 23.8%.
February delivered the lowest result since August 2024, when the brand listed 14,036 new energy vehicles (NEV).
The automotive market was severely impacted in China due to the extended Chinese New Year Holiday period, which left only 16 working days.
